


Thirteen Days

by vericus



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Angst, Insanity, M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 01:08:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 28,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vericus/pseuds/vericus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd already said goodbye, but he'd never accepted it, and when his last moments came, he couldn't let go - so he stayed.  And unfortunately, they knew it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ariel

**Author's Note:**

> I feel the need to warn. This fic is completely different from what I usually write. It's dark, it's angsty, and there's very little humour. So be forewarned.

Ariel grimaced to herself as she squared off against her partner. She didn't know why their teacher kept setting her and Kyle against each other - surely the man had noticed the tension between them. They hadn't gotten along from the moment they'd met in this Tae Kwon Do class two years ago, and it had only gotten worse with time. It was at the point where Ariel was actually looking for a new place to take classes from, that would respect her belt ranking from this one. Until then, though, she just had to deal with it. Deal with Kyle's leers, quiet taunts when he knew nobody was listening, and mocking looks. The best way to do that, of course, was just to focus on the lesson, and that was just what Ariel did, blocking Kyle out, focusing on the movements - until suddenly, a foot was where it wasn't supposed to be, and she went down hard. Glaring up at Kyle, Ariel found him smirking, though the expression quickly disappeared from his face as their teacher approached.

"You may want to practice the forms before you try them, Ariel," he said with a frown.

"I do!" Ariel insisted, then pointed to Kyle. "He tripped me!" The teacher looked curiously at Kyle, who adopted a hurt look.

"I would never do that! I want to learn as much as you, Ariel!" he protested, and the teacher frowned down at Ariel.

"I would suggest you not try blaming your mistakes on your sparring partners," the older man said sternly. "Now get up, try it again." Flushing angrily, Ariel did as told, climbing to her feet and setting into a ready position, while Kyle did the same. Once again, Ariel focused on the moves. It was harder to push aside her dislike for Kyle, but the knowledge of who her audience was helped her do it - and then, suddenly, time seemed to pause, and Ariel noticed Kyle's leg coming out to trip her. Shock that he would try this in front of the teacher crossed her mind, and then she realized that thanks to the angles, their teacher wouldn't even see it. She'd be embarrassed and lectured again, and unable to tell the truth of the matter without being labelled a liar.

_Well fuck that._

Time sped up, and Ariel's limbs suddenly seemed to be moving by themselves, at a speed she hadn't known she was capable of. She twisted out of the way of Kyle's trip, then sent a solid punch to his jaw, brought a knee to his stomach, then followed with a kick to the chest, sending him careening backwards. He tried to recover, but before he could, she was on him again, fist smashing across his face again, and the satisfying _crunch_ sound signified that this time, she'd broken something. She was aware of someone yelling in the background, but she didn't stop, landing another kick on Kyle's chest, pushing the air out of him. A hand landed on her shoulder, and she turned, executing a fast-paced series of punches that even the black belt now in front of her couldn't block entirely. He tried to counterattack, but she brushed it aside, attacking him with as little mercy as she had Kyle.

When it was over, Ariel stood in the center of the gym, Kyle unconscious on one side of her, blood trickling from his mouth and his jaw obviously broken, and her teacher groaning on the floor, only barely conscious himself, on the other side. Ariel looked between the two, and briefly, the thought that she should be horrified crossed her mind. She'd taken this class to learn self-defence, not to beat her fellow students and teacher to a pulp. Oddly, however, the damage she'd just caused didn't faze her. It should have - she'd always hated the sight of blood, and the fact that she was the cause of the red liquid leaking out of Kyle's mouth should have sent her into hysterics.

Instead, she just frowned between the two of them, grunted, then went and grabbed her things before walking out of the building and heading for her car. It wasn't until she got home that she realized she was still wearing her uniform, and that it was splattered with Kyle's blood. And it was two hours later, when the police showed up, that she finally freaked out.

\---

To say Ariel was still freaking out was an understatement. Her parents were flying into town tomorrow, but in the mean time, she had her preliminary court appearance today. It seemed extraordinarily fast to her, but then, the media seemed to have latched onto her story. Something about a martial arts student, not even a green belt, beating up both her teacher and another student, had caught their eye. She couldn't go outside without there being at least one reporter lying in wait. Today was going to be worse, she knew.

Ariel moaned slightly and sunk down in the passenger seat of the car as she was driven to the courthouse - she'd asked Chelsea, one of her few friends that wasn't now terrified of her, to drive her because she didn't think she'd be able to, considering the state she was in. She was shaking like a leaf, still unable to understand how or why she'd done what she had. She'd tried numerous times, in the privacy of her own living room, to try and repeat the moves she used, but time and again, she ended up tripping over her own feet. Even if she could repeat the moves, though, she knew she would have normally never used them - she'd never been violent. The Tae Kwon Do classes were something her two older brothers had begged her to take when she moved to LA, and since it was either that, or they swore they'd get her a gun for her next birthday, she took the classes.

Now it was looking like the gun might have been the better option.

Then again, she might have just gone ballistic with the gun instead, Ariel thought bitterly as she felt the car slowing down. Looking out the window, Ariel found that they had arrived at the courthouse, and she shared a grimace with Chelsea at the reporters that were already waiting for her. It wasn't exactly a crowd, but they were several from different major media stations. Fortunately, Ariel's lawyer, a Mister Frank Wolf, was waiting just outside for her - thank god for one of her parent's cousins being a senior partner in a law firm out here and kindly assigning a junior, but still more than skilled enough to handle Ariel's case, lawyer to her at no charge. Taking a deep breath, Ariel thanked Chelsea and slipped out of the car.

"Don't say a thing, don't even acknowledge them," Wolf said in a low tone as soon as Ariel stood, and she nodded as the man began to lead her towards the courthouse, ignoring the reporters as much as he'd told her to. By the time they got to the doors of the courthouse, they were literally surrounded by reporters. The courthouse guards came out to clear the way to the door, but with one foot inside, Ariel suddenly felt this inexplicable calm come over her. Suddenly, she wasn't worried - one way or another, this would all be over relatively soon, and the worst she could get was a couple of fines, maybe some jail time, and she knew her parents would pay the former and do everything they could to prevent the latter, and so would their cousin. With that on her mind, she suddenly turned to the reporters and flashed them a brilliant grin and the victory sign, before heading back inside, almost sauntering. She never saw the odd look her lawyer gave her before following her in, and once again, it wasn't until after Ariel was home that her confidence came crashing down again.

"What is wrong with me?" Ariel weakly asked her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the nerves have just caused her to throw up the rather hearty supper she'd eaten while still on her confident high. Ariel's reflection, unsurprisingly, didn't answer. Sighing, the young woman dragged herself to her bed and curled up on it, staring at the wall without really seeing it. She'd been acting strange for awhile now, feeling odd bursts of courage or self-assurance, when she was normally quite a shy girl - her brothers had teased her often about it as children, but when they all grew up, they'd started protecting her. She guessed that was part of the reason why she never really grew out of that shyness - there'd never been a need.

Then, after the destruction in LA following that strange terrorist attack, housing prices in the city had dropped, and Ariel had decided to move there. Her brothers and parents had argued against it, of course, but that was when that first burst of strange confidence had come. She'd looked at her family and told them flat-out that she could do this, that it was time for her to head out and live her own life. Surprised, but pleased, by her new confidence, they'd let her. Ariel had always assumed, because of that moment, that it was moving out on her own that had suddenly made her so confident and self-assured. That she was growing out of her shy ways now that she didn't have two brothers watching over her.

But if this was what she was like when she was confident and independent, she wanted to go back to being the shy, protected little girl she was a year ago.

\---

When her parents made the offer once the court cases were over with, Ariel was more than ready to take them up on it. She probably would have asked them if they hadn't offered, in fact, no matter how much it would hurt her little amount of pride. But they'd asked, and now Ariel stood outside her parent's home just outside of Boston and smiled up at it. The house itself was only just too small to be considered a manor, but somehow, the house had never seemed large, even once Ariel's two older brothers had moved out, one to Boston proper, the other to New York.

It was probably the dogs, Ariel mused as one of her mother's many collies came trotting up to her. It sniffed her hand, and Ariel took the opportunity to check it's collar - her mother may have been able to tell her dogs apart by sight, but the rest of her family had given up long ago, especially considering how often there were 'visiting' male dogs. This one's collar had a gold nameplate, showing it was female, with the name 'Petunia' engraved on it.

"Petunia?" Ariel asked herself, scrunching her brows together as she frowned. Then the collie lightly butted her hand and she knelt, scratching the dog behind the ears. "My mother gives you such weird names, doesn't she?" Ariel asked the dog, who just smiled happily and panted a bit at the scratching. Ariel grinned, then patted Petunia on the head and headed towards the house, making her way to her old room - well, rooms. Since they'd had the space, each kid had a bedroom and a study in the house. Ariel's brothers, Sebastian and Gabrielle - otherwise known as Gabe - were just finishing carrying the last of her things in, and Ariel sighed as she saw the boxes littered throughout the two rooms. It was hard to believe everything fit in there, considering there was barely a path through either room right now.

"Might've been easier if you'd just left this all here," Sebastian said musingly as he set down a box and came to stand by his sister.

"After the rants I heard from mom when you did that?" Ariel said with a snort. "I think not." Sebastian laughed.

"Oi, lazy bum, there's more boxes, stop standing around!" Gabe growled to his brother as he entered the room with a box of his own, purposefully nicking Sebastian with the corner of said box.

"Hey! Carefully with Ariel's stuff, man! She's dangerous now!" Sebastian said jokingly before leaving, but the words caused the smile to fade from Ariel's face. Gabe, putting down his box and turning to head out and get another, spotted the look on his sister's face and came over, wrapping her in a hug. Ariel latched onto him, feeling tears welling up, and she sniffled into her brother's shirt.

"Hey, it's OK," Gabe said softly. "Sebastian was only joking."

"I know. Doesn't make it less true, though," Ariel said, her voice hitching as she held back tears.

"Hey. Hey, look at me," Gabe said, pulling back and catching Ariel's eyes. He gave her an earnest look as he continued, "You are _not_ dangerous. You may have gone a little ballistic, but you were under stress. Moving out on your own is never easy. You can never repeat this to anyone under pain of death and humiliation, but for the first two months I was out on my own, I phoned either mom or dad every night, sometimes in tears, because I missed home so much and New York was so different and strange. And you saw how Sebastian was back for supper almost every night for the first three weeks after he moved out.

"You, being you, just held that all in, and when that Kyle guy decided to be a jerk to you on top of everything else, it just all came pouring out. It doesn't mean you're dangerous. It might mean that you should take some sort of course on releasing stress or see a psychologist, but hey, doesn't everyone need that?" The last was added with a smile, which Ariel echoed.

"Thanks," she said quietly, and Gabe's smile widened.

"No problem, sis. I'd better get going, though, before Sebastian decides _I'm_ slacking off and _throws_ a box at me," Gabe said teasingly, and the two siblings stepped away from each other.

"If he does, I'll go Tae Kwon Do on his aft for you," Ariel replied with a laugh, and Gabe snickered.

"Alright, revenge of the little sister! Bet if we filmed it, it would make more at the box office than Revenge of the Sith!" he said.

"As if! Lightsabers and the force are better than Tae Kwon Do any day!" Ariel snorted, giving her brother a shove towards the doorway, and with a laugh, he left. Still smiling, Ariel turned her attention back to her room and picked a box at random to start unpacking. Her mother joined her a little while later, and her brothers after they'd finished getting boxes out of the truck. Ariel's father was working until later that evening, but he joined them when he got home, bringing several large pizzas, and together, the family put Ariel's room back together.

\---

"Come on, sis, we're going out shopping!" Sebastian said, poking his head into his sister's room. Ariel looked up from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, organizing her books on the lower shelf of her bookcase, and arched an eyebrow at him.

"Shopping?" she asked. "Isn't that what I normally drag _you_ out to do?"

"Not when it's car shopping!" Sebastian said with a grin, and Ariel groaned.

"Oh come _on_ Sebastian, I told you, I don't need a car. Mom and dad have three already!" she said.

"You really expect me to believe you're going to drive the Crown Vic? Or mom's Escalade? Oh no wait, maybe you'll drive dad's truck," Sebastian said musingly, then snorted. "They're all way too big for you to drive, and you know it. You just want to sit in the house all day and be the reclusive little sister who never goes out."

"I do not!" Ariel protested. She didn't even bother protesting that she'd never drive one of their parents cars - she didn't know how her mom managed it, but at five foot eight, and slender to boot, she always felt scared climbing into the driver's seat of one of those three monsters. "Even if I did, there was no way you could make me go out if I didn't want to, anyways!"

"No, but I can make sure there's a gleaming metric ton or so of temptation sitting in the driveway begging you to go out and be seen," Sebastian said with a grin, stepping into the room fully now. "Come on, even Gabe has agreed to go after seeing that piece of shit you were driving in LA."

"That 'piece of shit' was a new model!" Ariel said, offended. After the battle she'd gone through with her parents between getting new or used - she'd wanted used, so there was less chance of it getting stolen, her parents wanted nothing but the best for her, and only the fact that her parents were paying for it had resulted in them winning - she wasn't about to let anyone insult the car.

"A new piece of shit!" Sebastian agreed dismissively. "You obviously have no idea how to pick cars. So on his _last_ day before heading back to NYC, your eldest brother _Gabriel,_ the boy who didn't get his full driver's licence until last year, has agreed to go car shopping with you and me so that he can make sure you don't sit around the house all day, or even worse, buy another car like that _thing_ you had in LA." Sebastian mock-shuddered, and Ariel glared at him.

"Fine, but we're looking at used cars first!" she said, and Sebastian froze, considering.

"Alright, but don't tell mom or dad," he said finally, then looked nervously out into the hall before turning back to Ariel and whispered, "They think it's blasphemy to get a used car, but Gabe and I both bought used and didn't tell them!"

"Hah, I knew there was something fishy about your story as to how you ended up with a completely new year-old model!" Ariel said triumphantly as she stood, leaving her books for now.

"Hey, keep it quiet!" Sebastian said with pretend nervousness, peering out into the hallway again, and Ariel chuckled as she headed out, Sebastian just behind her. They said goodbye to their parents, Sebastian proudly proclaiming that they were going out car shopping, then headed outside, where Gabe was waiting for them in his mustang convertible. The two younger siblings hopped in as Gabe started the engine, and then they set off into Boston to look for a car for Ariel.

Within an hour, Ariel was bored and regretting she'd come. Gabe and Sebastian were talking with a salesmen about things she didn't understand, and they had yet to even look at a car. They didn't seem to need any input from her, either, so she felt completely justified in wandering off, looking through the cars. She started out looking seriously, but realized that with her brothers around, the only opinion of hers that would count would be what colour and make she preferred from whatever ones they came up with as options for her, so she stopped looking at specifics, and started looking at colours and body shape.

Ariel had half decided she wanted a deep purple car with a slightly boxy feel to it - there was something unsettling and alien about all the round corners on the new cars - when something silver caught her eye, and she turned to find a sporty little silver Pontiac convertible, all rounded corners, sitting unassumingly in a back corner of the lot. She stared at it for a moment, then turned on her heel and returned to her brothers and the salesman. Their conversation stopped as she suddenly, physically, made herself a part of it, stepping up right beside Sebastian.

"I found the car I want," Ariel said with a bright smile.


	2. Prowl

Prowl knew something was wrong well before he'd reached Earth - before he'd even received Optimus' message. He could tell by the way his CPU suddenly, inexplicably, did a complete shut down and reboot, and how afterwards...nothing seemed quite right. His limbs seemed awkward, his vision washed out, his hearing dulled. His sensors seemed less precise, letting little things slip past them - and once he received Optimus' message and started heading towards Earth, it only got worse.

In the end, by the time Prowl landed on Earth, he didn't need to be told. Driving up to the Autobot base in his new beat-up looking mustang alt-form was really just to settle the formalities - they had to let him know Jazz was dead, he had to let them know he was resigning. No one on either side was surprised. Well, Ratchet seemed surprised that Prowl was even coherent.

"It's not every day one loses their bonded, Prowl," Ratchet said with a frown as he gave the tactician a final medical scan.

"And it's not every mech that has a logic processor so powerful it can override their basic functions if necessary," Prowl stated flatly. Ratchet conceded the point, and an hour later, Prowl walked out of the new Autobot base, transformed, set up jamming fields, and disappeared. The Autobots tried to track him for a few days, but even Hound had trouble keeping up with the tactician. They did their best, though, not only in case Decepticons attacked, but in case Prowl needed their support. Eventually, however, even Optimus had to concede that the Decepticons were unlikely to find him with his jamming fields at full strength, and Prowl himself seemed to be adjusting to life without his bonded as best he could. So the Autobots let him be, hoping that someday, he might return.

But the day the last Autobot stopped watched him, Prowl trans-scanned a new car, perversely seeking out one identical to the alt form of the now-dead Jazz, used his hologram to get himself situated in a used car lot, then went into almost complete stasis lock. He was only vaguely aware of eventually being purchased and driven off the lot, preferring to let his systems shut down slowly, one by one, until even with his jamming fields down, not even Ratchet would have been able to tell he was anything more than a normal car without doing a detailed inspection. Prowl might have spent the rest of his life like that, alive but not living, drifting in a blank void free of emotion and thought, free from the troubles of the universe. 

If it hadn't been for the bullet that bounced off his windshield that night, in fact, he probably wouldn't have even noticed when his new 'owner' was kidnapped.

However, the shooter deffinately didn't have the best aim in the world, so when the young woman he and the others had been sent to kidnap started attacking them, using what looked like very rudimentary martial arts, his warning shot ended up accidentally hitting her car. Two things saved him from his superior's wrath - the fact that the shot had stopped the woman cold, and that the bullet had, amazingly, left only the tiniest chip on the car, then embedded itself in a nearby tree, where it could be pried out, and the hole it made charred, so no evidence was left when, if, the car was found.

Then it was a simply matter of pushing the woman's little convertible into the woods, covering it with branches, dirt and leaves, and leaving.

None of the men stuck around long enough to see the supposed Pontiac Solstice suddenly shake itself, the camouflage falling off of it, before it almost hesitantly started its engine and crept through the woods, back onto the road where the men had used a set of stolen police lights to pull the driver over. And none of them saw the car subsequently unfold into a giant metallic alien, who proceeded to stare down the highway in each direction for a moment before folding in on itself again and setting off down the highway...heading in the direction the new convoy of black SUVs and one fake police ghost car were going, and keeping just far enough back that they never even noticed it following them.

\---

Hound was on guard outside the supposedly-deserted desert military base in Nevada, now home to the Autobots, when the car appeared on the horizon. He watched it approach warily - it gave off no Cybertronian signals, but he could tell even from this distance that it didn't have a driver. His unease only grew when he realized the make and model of the car was identical to Jazz's alt form, and he called Optimus and Ironhide on the comm system, thinking some poor new Autobot was going to need to be told to go trans-scan a new vehicle.

The car beat Optimus and Ironhide to the entrance of the base, pulling to an abrupt stop a good twenty feet away. There was a moment's pause, and then all at once, the jamming field the car had evidently had up collapsed, and it unfolded into a bipedal form. It only took Hound a moment to recognize the signature of the Cybertronian before him, and all he could do was gape as he realized the situation.

"Hound, what's -" Optimus didn't need to finish his question as he and Ironhide reached the entrance and saw the 'Bot before them. "Prowl?" Even though his sensors were telling him that this was, undoubtedly, the tactician, the disbelieving question still escaped.

"What do you know about a group of humans calling themselves Seven Hands?" Prowl grunted in reply. Optimus stared for a moment as his processor caught up.

"Ah - they're an illegal off-shoot of Sector Seven," Optimus said. Prowl looked at him blankly, and Optimus remembered that Prowl had only stuck around long enough after landing to hear the list of deaths and that the Allspark was destroyed. "Sector Seven was a government agency that was formed when the Allspark was discovered, and later began studying Megatron when the government had him moved from the arctic circle. They were dissolved after the battle in LA, but seven of the more important scientists and officers didn't want to give up on the project, and formed Seven Hands. The organization illegally stalks and studies Cybertronians on Earth, even going so far as to try and kidnap Hot Rod when he landed a few months ago so they could put him into stasis. We're working with the human government to track them down, but we haven't had much luck locating their headquarters." Prowl tilted his head to one side.

"They're in or around Austin, Texas," he said.

"How do you know that?" Optimus asked with surprise.

"That was the filed flight plan for the plane they got on at Boston International Airport," Prowl replied reasonably. Optimus and Ironhide exchanged glances.

"I think you'd better come inside, Prowl, and start this story from the beginning," Optimus said finally, stepping aside and motioning for Prowl to proceed him into the base. Prowl grunted, frowned, and then did as asked. He was silent as he went through the base, Optimus casually directing him, until he realized that instead of going to the operations center, Optimus was directing him towards the med bay. Prowl stopped and gave the Autobot leader a flat stare, but Optimus just smiled serenely and motioned for Prowl to continue. The tactician growled again, but continued, stalking into the med bay, completely surprising Ratchet, and hopping up onto one of the berths and lying down without needing to be told.

"Where did _you_ come from?" Ratchet asked incredulously.

"Boston," Prowl replied truthfully. Ratchet stared at him for a moment, then looked helplessly towards Optimus, obviously confused.

"Just check him over, then both of you can come up to the operations center. We'll be waiting," Optimus said with an amused smiled, then left the med bay.

"Boston?" Ratchet asked Prowl after a moment, and the tactician nodded.

"Boston," he repeated, and Ratchet sighed before beginning his scans. A few minutes later, the medic had recovered enough to curse whatever human thought of using fossil fuels to power their vehicles, and threaten to reformat Prowl into a toaster if he ever let a human supply him with gasoline for energy ever again. Prowl ignored him, waiting impatiently until the medic was finished - save for the full systems flush he wanted to do - and then the two of them headed up to the operations center. Optimus and Ironhide were waiting in the large room, along with several more 'Bots and a handful of humans, who stood on the table in the center of the room, while the 'Bots had rough Cybertronian-sized chairs around the table that they were occupying.

Prowl recognized the other 'Bots as Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Tracks, but the humans he didn't know until Ratchet sent him a data burst with their identities. There was Sergeant Robert Epps, Samuel Witwicky, Mikaela Banes, Maggie Madsen, and Miles Harris. Apparently all were well known to the Autobots, with only Miles Harris not having been involved in the battle that destroyed Megatron and the Allspark...and Jazz. Prowl didn't really care, so long as they didn't stop him from getting what he wanted - which was a location and a strike force. And permission to kill the fleshlings that kidnapped Ariel Barrett right next to him.

"Alright Prowl, let's hear about your encounter with Seven Hands," Optimus said once Ratchet had settled himself in one of the Autobot-sized chairs. Prowl considered his words for a moment, then opted not to reveal his near-stasis-lock for fear of getting hauled back to the med bay by Ratchet to 'have his CPU looked at'. To that end, he was lucky to have been able to piece together enough from his limited sensor logs so that he knew what had happened before he'd woken to full consciousness.

"I had acquired a human driver, Ariel Barrett, and we were leaving Boston three days ago when what we thought was a police car signalled for her to pull over. Ariel did so, but when she stopped, men in suits got out of the 'police' car and approached, telling her she was to come with them. She protested, they insisted, and one of them fired a shot that bounced off my windshield. Ariel stopped struggling after the shot was fired, and then men took her to their car, putting her in the back before pushing me off the road and attempting to hide me in the surrounding forest.

"Then they took off back towards Boston, being joined by several black SUVs no more than a mile down the road. Once it was safe, I followed them, and they proceeded to the Boston Airport, where they boarded a private plane with a filed flight path taking it to Austin, Texas. I had planned to head there myself, but as I drove, I did a little digging into their backgrounds and found that several of them were known to be part of an organization known as Seven Hands. I couldn't discover much about the organization, except that it knew about Cybertronians, so I decided to make a detour here, instead, in the hopes of finding out more about it before proceeding in retrieving Ariel," Prowl summarized succinctly.

"Do you know why they took this Ariel lady?" Sideswipe asked Prowl curiously in the silence that followed.

"They might have taken her because of her contact with him," the human named Maggie spoke up.

"Impossible," Prowl said dismissively.

"Not really, they already hold a grudge against those of us involved in the battle over the Allspark - hell, they've already kidnapped Miles once, and he wasn't even involved," Sam Witwicky said.

"There was no way for them to know who or what I was," Prowl stated with certainty.

"These guys are pretty sneaky, they might have -"

"There. Was. No. Way," Prowl stated firmly, interrupting the young human male as he tried to speak again.

"Well then why did they take her?" Sam Witwicky asked crossly.

"I don't know," Prowl said with a shrug.

"Then it could very well be because of her contact with you." The human pounced on Prowl's statement like a turbofox finally catching a long-elusive glitchmouse, and Prowl glared down at him. This was an irrelevant argument. What did it matter why they took Ariel? The point was that she had gone unwillingly, and needed to be rescued, and his voiced that out loud.

"I agree, Prowl - unfortunately, Texas is a big state, and they may have very well driven outside of it," Optimus said.

"Why fly to Austin, and not an airport closer to their ultimate destination, then?" Prowl replied promptly. "They weren't expecting to be followed, so there was no need for them to hide their tracks."

"Unless, of course, they were kidnapping her because of her contact with you, and so were expecting to be followed," Sam Witwicky pointed out. Prowl twitched.

"If they had known who and what I was, would they have bothered to shove me into the woods and try and camouflage me if they knew how ultimately futile it would be?" Prowl snapped.

"Yeah, about that - why did you let them take her in the first place? You could have prevented it if you transformed," Sam Witwicky asked, and Prowl just stared incredulously at the human, then at his fellow Autobots, but they looked as curious as the human. Prowl growled.

"It...took awhile for my systems to reboot. By the time I was in any condition to transform, they were driving away, and at that point, it might have caused more harm than good. Plus I had no idea at the time that they knew about Autobots," the tactician said, trying to put as much information after the revelation of his systems needing to reboot so that Ratchet would get distracted and forget about it. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Ratchet latched onto the comment right away.

"Why exactly did your systems need to reboot?" he asked, leaning forward, optics narrowing dangerously, and Prowl shifted uncomfortably. "Prowl..." the medic said warningly when Prowl didn't respond.

"Because I'd shut down 97.6% of them," Prowl snapped. There was silence among the Autobots as that sunk in. The humans were equally silent, but mostly out of confusion.

"You put yourself in fragging _stasis lock?"_ Ratchet finally hissed.

"Yes," Prowl said with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Frag it, Prowl! Why didn't you just slagging drive yourself off a fragging cliff! It would have been just as fragging easy, and then you wouldn't have been a slagging wandering target for Decepticons to capture!" Ratchet ranted. "Primus, you could have just shut down in the slagging basement of this slagging base, if that's what you fragging wanted!"

"My jamming fields were still at full strength, the Decepticons would have never found me!" Prowl snapped.

"And what if the fields failed? You wouldn't have been conscious enough to notice, let alone fragging fix them! And furthermore, what if this Ariel woman had fragging crashed you? No human mechanic would be able to fix you properly, and you wouldn't have been fragging conscious enough to call for help. No, wait, that was the fragging point, wasn't it? Just avoid the pain, avoid dealing, avoid grieving, until you're crashed or get discarded as too old and some human ends up inadvertently killing you so you can go join the fragging Matrix with fragging Jazz!" Prowl didn't even try to stop himself from tackling Ratchet, cannon out and at the ready, but the medic was ready for him, and before the tactician could do more than growl and warm up his cannon, Ratchet sent an intense pulse into his CPU in the way only medics could, and Prowl slipped into unconsciousness.

The others in the conference room watched as Prowl suddenly tumbled to the side and Ratchet, still muttering angrily to himself, got up, hooked his hands under Prowl's arms, and dragged him off back to the med bay, looking, as Miles mused, like some demented metallic murderer dragging off the body of his latest victim. Once Ratchet could no longer be heard, Sam turned to Optimus.

"I'm sorry?" he said weakly.

"It's not your fault, Sam," Optimus said reassuringly. "Prowl is, for once in his long life, acting very illogically."

"Looks like Jazz wins that bet after all," Ironhide grunted, and Optimus gave the weapons specialist a look of sour amusement.

"Bet?" Sideswipe asked curiously. Optimus shifted, suddenly looking uncomfortable, but Ironhide grinned.

"Y'remember that stash of high-grade you gave Jazz right before we left Cybertron?" the weapons specialist said. "Well, about five vorns out, Jazz pulled it out and we all got a little over-energized. We started making bets about strange things. One was when Prowl would do something illogical. Jazz bet that it wouldn't happen until after he died, because the universe hated him that way."

"What did the rest of you bet?" Sideswipe asked, looking amused.

"Hmmm, Ratchet's was once he removed some of Prowl's logic chips - we told him that didn't really count, but that was all he came up with. I think I said Prowl would snap when the femmes finally stopped trying to lure him away from Jazz - the paranoia would do it. Optimus..." Ironhide trailed off as he saw the glare his leader was giving him. He gave Sideswipe a meaningful look instead - he'd share later.

"As fun as this is - Prowl was right about us needing to rescue this Ariel lady," Sergeant Epps piped up. "Sector Seven wasn't exactly known for being gentle, and Seven Hands has already shown itself to be worse. Since they couldn't have known they were being followed, unless they were being paranoid, they must have some sort of base around Austin. Since Prowl found their identities through our network, that means we can start watching the area, no matter how big it is. One of them, at the very least, is bound to show their face in order to get groceries."

"Of course. Prowl will want to assist, I'm sure, once he's escaped from Ratchet," Optimus said. "Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe - would you go with him?"

"Glad to, Prime!" Sunstreaker said instantly, and Ironhide and Sideswipe's agreements quickly followed.

"Alright, I'll contact the right people, let them know what's up, and set up a place to meet them at once we can get down there," Epps said with a nod.

"Excellent," Optimus said, and Epps was already pulling out his cell phone while motioning for Tracks to help him down from the table. Optimus told Ironhide and the twins to go get ready for their trip, then dismissed everyone, heading for the med bay to make sure Ratchet didn't completely reprogram Prowl.

\---

Prowl finally escaped Ratchet a day later, leaving the med bay under a hail of thrown tools and a stream of steady, vibrant threats about what Ratchet would do to the tactician if he ever did something so stupid ever again. Then it was Optimus' turn to corner the tactician and let him know exactly what he thought of Prowl doing that to himself. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, meanwhile, could be seen smirking wherever they went, smug now that it was Prowl getting in trouble with Optimus instead of them getting in trouble with Prowl. Prowl avoided them as much as possible until the next day, when the four Autobots heading to Austin set out.

They arrived in Austin a day later, and met up with the FBI agents stationed there. The agent in charge of the operation, Malcolm Bradburn, assigned one of his men to each of them, then sent them out to the most likely locations. The four Autobots saw more than their fair share of abandoned military bases, ghost towns, and mines than they ever wanted to see. Ironhide even uncovered a drug smugglers' hideout, which he then cheerfully helped the FBI take down, since he was 'in the area'.

In the end, it was in the early morning of their ninth day after their arrival in Austin, thirteen days after Ariel's kidnapping, when Sunstreaker sent a positive confirmation of known Seven Hands operatives smoking cigarettes outside a supposedly abandoned military research facility to the west of Austin. The three other Autobots converged on his position quickly, human agents who had also been out searching right behind them.

"That's definitely some sort of base for them," Agent Bradburn said, handing the binoculars off to one of his sub-ordinates. "So how do we want to go about this?"

"You're askin' us?" Ironhide asked with surprise.

"Well, I'm not exactly used to planning busts with four thirty-foot-high mechanical soldiers at my disposal, so I thought I might see if you had some input. Isn't he supposed to be a tactician, anyways?" Bradburn motioned to Prowl, who hadn't transformed like the twins and Ironhide, instead just sitting in his alt form, pointed towards the base. He didn't even acknowledge the agent's question, so Ironhide stepped in.

"True. Hey, Prowl! Y'got a plan cooking in that CPU of yours?" Ironhide asked. There was a pause, during which the weapons specialist wondered if the tactician was even going to answer.

"We go in, blow things up, and get Ariel," Prowl finally said calmly, and there was silence all around.

"That's it? What happened to all your masterful plans?" Sideswipe asked incredulously after a moment.

"Don't know. Kind of in a mood to just shoot things," the supposed tactician replied thoughtfully. "Besides, I don't recall you or your brother ever following my plans."

"Hey, we followed your plans! Until the Seekers showed up," Sunstreaker protested, and Prowl shifted on his wheels a bit, giving the impression of a 'see what I mean?' look.

"Alright, guess we'll just stick with a basic infiltration scenario, then," Bradburn said with a sigh. "You four...well, do whatever it is you do, just don't kill anyone. We want as many of them as possible alive."

"Not a problem - killing you fleshies makes a mess, anyways. Too many juicy bits squirting all over the place and needing to be washed off the paint job later," Sunstreaker remarked.

"Primus, Sunstreaker! That's disgusting!" Sideswipe told his twin with an expression of disgust.

"I know!" Sunstreaker said earnestly.

"I don't think I want to know how he knows that," Bradburn murmured, and Ironhide shook his head.

"No, y'don't. Suffice it to say there's a little less wildlife in the area the two of them landed in," the weapons specialist said. "How long will it take your guys to get ready?"

"A few hours - we've had equipment, men, and vehicles on standby ever since we started this search, and they're all already on the way," Bradburn replied. "We just have to wait until they get here, then suit up ourselves, and we'll be ready to go."

"Good," Ironhide said, eyeing Prowl, who he'd noticed had been creeping slowly closer to the research facility as they talked. "'Cuz I don't think Prowl's going to wait very long." Bradburn, glancing at the Pontiac Solstice, silently agreed.


	3. 12 days before...

Ariel woke to concrete walls and steel bars, and the thought that these guys, whoever they were, hadn't played fair. She'd been nice and come along quietly - well, once they started waving guns about - so she didn't see why they'd had to knock her out with drugs. Not like her rudimentary Tae Kwon Do had been any real threat to them, she was sure. She'd been kind of hoping that she'd be able to summon the same strange fighting abilities she'd used to beat up Kyle and her old teacher, but evidently Gabe was right about it having been the result of stress. Though it was kind of weird that moving out on her own would apparently stress her more than getting kidnapped.

The fact of the matter was, she'd been good, and they'd knocked her out so she now had no idea where she was - or even if there was anybody else around. The thought that they might have just left her here to starve to death crossed her mind, and it brought Ariel to her feet, sending her to the bars that made up one wall of her cell, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she looking down the hall to the left of her cell and saw a man in a suit standing there silently, guarding the door out of the hallway. Even as she watched, the door opened, and two different men entered, each dressed in bland black suits.

"Hello, Miss Barrett," one of them said as they approached. The other one produced keys and unlocked the cell door, swinging it open. "If you'd come with us?"

"And what if I won't?" Ariel asked with a frown, just to check. The man who had spoken arched an eyebrow and pulled back his suit jacket, revealing a tazer gun. Ariel headed for the door to the cell, and the man chuckled, which really, was just rude in Ariel's opinion, but she said nothing as they led her to another room, this one smaller than the cell, but with a wooden table and a chair, and one wall made of a giant mirror - likely a one-way, Ariel mused as the men told her to sit. She did so, and the men left, only to be replaced by another man, this one with a lab coat instead of a suit jacket.

"Glad to see you're conscious again, Miss Barrett," the man said. "Now we can get started!"

"Started? On what?" Ariel asked suspiciously.

"Digging out what you and our 'friendly' visitors have so cleverly hidden," the man replied, smiling easily.

"What?" Ariel asked blankly, and the man's smile become a bit forced. 

"Don't play coy with me. We know he's in there, and we're going to find him and get what we want. Your friends won't be able to help you - they don't even know who has taken you," the man said. "Now, tell me, where is the Autobots new base located?"

"What?" Ariel asked again, this time confused. "I have no clue what you're talking about." The man pursed his lips.

"No co-operating will only cause you more trouble in the long run," he said, and Ariel's eyes widened as she realized he didn't believe her when she said he didn't know. This couldn't be good.

Hours later, the man left in a huff, having gotten no answers because Ariel had none to give, only to be replaced by another. This one began asking her technical questions, which she could barely even identify as being about robotics, never mind understand. He soon became just as frustrated as the other man, and was replaced by another, who asked her about astrophysics.

It continued like that throughout the day, cycling through men, each one different, each asking her about a different subject. Weaponry, tactics, energy conversion, space flight, environmental requirements and limits for something known as a Cybertronian, frequencies for transmissions, codes for cracking into CPUs. The questions went on, each man getting more frustrated than the last by Ariel's inability - or, in their eyes, unwillingness - to answer. They tried all sorts of techniques to trap her into answering their questions, but since Ariel had no answers, she couldn't give anything away.

After what seemed like days of questions, the two men that had brought Ariel from her cell returned, and the man in the room with her told them to take her away. As she left, he called after her that perhaps hunger would compel her to talk, and her stomach grumbled as it was reminded that she hadn't had anything to eat since the morning before she'd been kidnapped. She returned to her cell and sulked in the corner, cursing the last man only because he'd reminded her of her hunger.


	4. 11 days before...

Ariel woke with a sigh as she saw the walls of her cells again. Yesterday had been boring, and she had no doubt that today would be even more so, and made even worse by the fact that she was really hungry now. Her stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself - and sounded a bit like it, too. For the heck of it, Ariel went to the front of her cell again and looked down the hall to the guard.

"Hey, got any gum?" she asked hopefully, but the guard ignored her, and Ariel sighed, stepping away from the bars. It wasn't long before the two men from before came to retrieve her, and took her to the same room from the day before, or at least an identical looking room. The parade of men and questions began again, until finally one of the men, who seemed to find her growling stomach distracting, irritably ordered someone outside to bring her some food. Watery soup was set in front of her, and Ariel greedily gulped it down.

Shortly after that, the room began to get fuzzy, and Ariel's thoughts slowed down. It took three changes of the man asking questions before her before the idea occurred to Ariel that she'd been drugged, but since she didn't know what they were talking about, and thus had nothing to hide, she didn't even try to fight the effects of the drug. At the very least, it made the afternoon blur together almost pleasantly, so that she wasn't as bored as yesterday.

Ariel was vaguely aware of giggling and singing a song about knowing nothing all day long when the two men returned her to her cell that night.


	5. 10 days before...

The squeaking of the door stirred Ariel from unconsciousness the next morning, and she groaned, feeling the hangover in her very bones from whatever drug they'd given her. Whoever had entered the cell wasn't about to let her wallow in misery and pain, however, hauling her to her feet and dragging her out of the cell and back to that small room with the table and chair. This time, there was a piece of equipment set up on the table, but Ariel couldn't spare the energy to inspect it, instead curling up in the chair, hiding her face in her arms. Food was set in front of her, but Ariel made no move to eat, so instead, someone grabbed one of her arms and, ignoring Ariel's bleary protests, began attaching something on the machine to her.

Shortly after that, a man entered, and began asking questions, just like before. This time, however, he asked about a wide variety of subjects, and seemed to believe Ariel when she told him she didn't know anything. Perhaps it was the lingering effects of the drugs, but it didn't occur to Ariel until she was led out of the room that the machine on the table had been a lie detector, and she'd just passed spectacularly...which she doubted would be a good thing in this case.

Ariel's fear only rose as she was led into a room that looked suspiciously like a large dentist's office, only with restraints on the chair, and far more equipment scattered around. For the first time, she actually struggled against the men leading her into the room, but she was subdued quickly, and strapped to the chair.

"Well Miss Barrett, apparently this is going to be a bit more difficult. No matter, we'll manage," a man in a lab coat, wearing latex gloves, said with a smile, then began hooking all sorts of machines up to Ariel.

"What's going on? Where am I? Who are you guys?" Ariel decided it was her turn to ask questions, but she didn't get any answers as the man ignored her, fiddling with dials. One of the machines above her suddenly flashed a bright light at her, and she flinched, snapping her eyes closed, but not quickly enough. Yellow spots danced across her vision, and she blinked furiously, trying to clear it. "Hey, warn a girl!"

"If you would please be silent, Miss Barrett, this will be much easier for everyone," the man murmured.

"No, I don't want to be silent! I've co-operated so far because you all have guns, but I'm getting tired of this. I don't know what you want with me - I don't _know_ anything. Nothing important, at any rate!" Ariel finally snapped.

"Yes yes, our apologies, we thought you knew, but evidently his presence is subconscious," the man said distractedly.

"Presence? Whose presence?" Ariel asked, panicking slightly.

"Nothing to worry about, Miss Barrett, we'll bring him out," the man said almost jovially.

"Why does that scare me..." Ariel said in a whisper. The man either didn't hear or was back to ignoring her, and Ariel didn't bother repeating herself, instead shivering as she lay in the chair. After awhile, a few more men entered, and the configuration of the devices hooked up to Ariel was changed. She tried asking them what they were doing again, but she was either ignored or got extremely technical answers, so she stopped asking. It went like that throughout the day, until finally, Ariel's two escorts returned, and she was released from the chair and taken back to her cell and fed.


	6. 9 days before...

Ariel woke early the next morning, way before she had on the previous days, and spent several hours boredly staring around her cell before she began singing to herself. She wasn't the best singer, so she eventually gave in to humming, and then she made her way to the front of her cell and tried to engage the guard at the end of the hallway in conversation. He was either deaf or really into his job, though, as he didn't react to anything she said, and finally, with a sigh, Ariel returned to the back of her cell and sat down. After a few moments, she flopped over onto her side. A small pock in the concrete caught her gaze, and she stared at it cross-eyed for a moment before looking to find another one, and next thing she knew, she was counting them.

When a man came with food later, she ate greedily, then used the spoon to scratch connecting lines between the various pock-marks to make pictures until the man came back to take away the bowl and spoon. Ariel asked him nicely to leave her the spoon, pouted when he didn't give in, and then whined at him until he got out of earshot. Grimacing, she went over to the right wall and started counting the pock-marks on that one.

When food was brought for a second time, and Ariel realized that she was going to be stuck in the cell all day, she succumbed to letting her head bang against the wall a few times before eating her food.

The guard at the end of the hallway was later treated to over seventy verses of 'Henry the Eighth', along with a full round of '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall' and an hours worth of Lambchops' song that never ends, followed by half an hour of the song that gets on everybody's nerves, before Ariel finally succumbed to sleep.


	7. 8 days before...

Ariel was roughly woken the next morning by a man bringing her more food, and she ate it slowly, but before she could even think of going back to making her spoon-scratched pictures in the floor, her escorts arrived and led her out of the cell. They brought her to a room that looked suspiciously like a gym, with eight large, burly men waiting. She decided immediately that she didn't like this situation even more than she hadn't liked any of the others, and tried to fight the men escorting her again, but one of the burly men inside the room grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up, and carried her into the center of the room before dropping her. Ariel's escort was already gone, and the door closed, by the time she scrambled to her feet. Nervously, she turned her attention to the men in the room, and one by one, they sank into various martial arts stances.

Oh no, this wasn't good.

 _Slaggtards,_ she thought to herself, then one of the men attacked her. She dodged his first attack, only to get caught in the second, and from there on, it was downhill. The men were clearly expert fighters - she recognized some advanced martial arts moves, as well as some boxing techniques - and clearly superior to her in skill, but still they kept at it. It got worse as they began taunting her, and Ariel began to get sloppy as she panicked, the thought having finally sunk in that she was screwed.

Men with the type of resources these guys had shown obviously weren't common kidnappers, which meant that even though her parents would inevitably file a missing persons report - if they hadn't already - it was unlikely that the police would be able to find her. The men who had Ariel seemed confident in this - confident enough to have several men give her a beating, confident that they could break whatever laws they wanted. It made Ariel wish that she had back some of her own confidence, that had gotten her through the court cases in LA.

And just like that, she had it.

Ariel barely even realized it as one of the men came at her and she dodged effortlessly, taking him down with a chop to the back of his neck. Another came, and he was down within moments. Two came at her at the same time, then, but she sent them to the ground effortlessly. The other four stayed where they were for a moment, watching her warily, and Ariel smiled. _This_ was fun, unlike that fight with Kyle and her teacher. Because this time, Ariel was in control, and these men deserved every punch, every kick, every bruise.

Ariel outright laughed as the four remaining men came at her at the same time, giggling as she took them down one by one, until finally she stood alone in the room with a collection of unconscious men. Still giggling, she stepped over their bodies and looked around, strangely wanting more. No more came, though, so she went to the door and tried it, but it was locked, and her attempts to kick it down failed. Then she heard a low hissing sound, and she looked around in surprise, but didn't see anything...after a few more moments, though, she noticed an unpleasant smell, and realized with a groan what was happening. She drew in a deep lungful of air, hoping she wasn't too late, and tried to outlast the gas, but inevitably, she had to give in and breath, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious, moments later.


	8. 7 days before...

She didn't want to move for the next year. Hell, Ariel didn't even want to _think_ of moving for the next year. Unfortunately, lady luck had gone on vacation a week ago and had yet to return. Ariel whimpered as she was dragged through the corridors to the familiar room with a table and chair. The chair, amusingly enough, had been exchanged with a metal one fitted with restraints, and bolted down to the floor. Ariel's escort shoved her down into the chair and secured her legs, but left her hands free. The reason was obvious as they brought in a tray of food, which she blearily, painfully, ate, aware of each and every one of the bruises she'd gained yesterday before her 'hidden skills' had kicked in.

"I don't suppose you'd give me some coffee if I asked?" she asked when they returned to take her tray. No response was given, and when men returned to secure her arms, Ariel gave up on the coffee dream. Sighing, she waited as they finished, and a man in a white lab coat entered. She recognized him from her first day, and noticed that he now seemed to be wary as he observed her, and Ariel smirked slightly.

"That was quite the display you put on yesterday," the man said after a few moments, and Ariel's smirk vanished.

"That was quite the beating they were trying to give me," she deadpanned in reply.

"We hypothesized that, considering all the facts, a combat situation would be the best way to acquire the readings we required," the man said seriously. "Now, tell me, have you ever had a psychotic episode? Besides that one in LA, of course, that resulted in the court cases. We know about that. But have you ever had a less violent one? Say, being able to put together a machine you shouldn't have been able to, or having an image in your mind of something metallic? Maybe heard a voice speaking, a male one, when there was no one around? Or lost control of a limb? Perhaps seen some strange planet, as clearly as if it were real?" The man went on, listing possibilities, as Ariel shook her head or answered 'no' to everyone. He didn't seem to understand that, at this point, even had she had any of the experiences he was bringing up, she wouldn't tell him. So she just let him continue on, giving him odd looks as his list of things got weirder and weirder.

"Did you ever encounter a vehicle that could talk to you? Or see one driving by itself? Was there anything odd when you went to purchase your current vehicle? Do you know anyone with the last name of Witwicky? Banes? Lennox?" the man was getting away from psychotic experiences now and seemed to be moving on to people she might know or places she might have been at specific times. Ariel stopped paying attention, just answering 'no' automatically every time he paused. Finally, he stopped, looking a bit frustrated, and Ariel arched an eyebrow at him.

"Can I have my coffee yet?" she asked, just to be irritating - she was fairly sure by now that that strange confidence from the court cases had returned again - and the man made a strange noise before glaring at her and storming out of the room. After he'd left, two men entered with food, and Ariel's hands were freed again so she could eat. Eyeing it warily, Ariel considered refusing it, but all the exercise she'd gotten yesterday had made her exceptionally hungry today, so even though there was a fair chance the food was drugged, she ate.

Sure enough, Ariel started feeling pleasantly light-headed after about ten minutes, but fortunately, that also made all the aches and pains from the day before go away, so Ariel didn't mind too much. Until a different man returned and began to try and hypnotize her. Ariel pushed down the fuzziness and fought the hypnotism, but the drugs were powerful, and inevitably, she gave in, slipping into a hypnotic trance.

She remembered everything clearly later, but that was because her hypnotizer ordered her to, right before he ordered her to tell the truth so long as she was in the trance. Ariel agreed easily to both orders, as hypnotized people usually did, and the man began asking her simple questions about her name and where she lived, then tried to get her to lie. She refused to, following his order, and he seemed satisfied as he sat in a chair across from her, which he'd brought in with him. Then he began on the serious questions, asking her about how she'd felt and what had happened the day before, then going back to the incident in LA. He managed to get out of her that she'd been feeling odd for some time, and slowly he worked his way back through each even mildly important event before she attacked Kyle, until he came to a day two and a half years ago.

"And what was special about this day?" the man asked patiently. If Ariel hadn't been in the trance, she might have wondered over his patience, and the fact that she wasn't bored, but as it was, all she could think about was that day.

"Nothing," Ariel answered, then on the heels of that, corrected herself with, "Everything."

"Nothing and everything?" the man questioned curiously.

"Nothing happened," Ariel replied, and just as before, on the heels of that statement, corrected herself with, "My life ended."

"Your life ended?" the man looked surprised.

"No, as I said, nothing happened," Ariel said. "My life as I knew it, at least." The man was sitting up straighter now, watching Ariel intently.

"How did your life as you knew it end?" he asked.

"I told you, nothing happened! My life was fine!" Ariel said with slight annoyance, then calmly concluded with, "I died." Before the man could reply to that, white-hot pain erupted in Ariel's gut, and she screamed in agony as it spread throughout her body. She was aware of a snap of fingers and panicked voices, and then the world went black.


	9. 6 days before...

There were voices nearby, but they were fuzzy, and even as Ariel tried to listen to them, they slipped farther and farther away. Soon they were gone, leaving her alone - no, not alone. There was someone else. There had been someone else for awhile now. Since that day when nothing had happened/when he had died. Unbidden, memories of that day sprang to her mind, but they seemed wrong even as she/he watched them. There was another set of memories overlaying them, making them strange, foreign. She/he panicked as she/he realized she/he couldn't tell which memory was foreign - they both felt so real.

She was walked through her parents house, opera blaring through every speaker, her parents gone on a weekend trip. She was alone with the dogs, who strangely seemed to enjoy the music. He was in the warzone of downtown LA, watching in horror as something big came around the corner of a building.

She had paused in one of the living rooms, a glass of iced tea in her hand, badly singing along to the opera as it reached a crescendo. He was tossed away carelessly, the impact with the side of a building sending his systems on the fritz.

She was laughing at how horrible she sounded, even to herself. He was getting up, determinedly getting back into the fight, to protect the smaller humans around him.

She was petting one of the dogs, asking its opinion of her singing, and laughing at the pleased expression that came from the petting and not her singing. He was grabbed, and flown through the air.

More dogs were showing up, realizing there were pets up for grabs, and she was getting mobbed by collies. Weight, incredible weight, pressing down on him, until he thought he would be crushed, but he struggled all the same, until one leg was caught in a vice-like grip.

She was laughing under a pile of licking, nosing and smiling collies. He was shooting and speaking defiantly at the behemoth holding him.

She was pushing the dogs away, still laughing, and sitting up. His captor grabbed his upper half and _pulled._

He/she screamed in agony, the noise drowned out by the opera/battle sounds, and no one heard. Blackness closed in, darker than even the void between galaxies, and he panicked. She fought - fought as she never had before, using the strength she'd never used before in one brutal fight.

And then, light. The living room, opera playing loudly. The dogs were looking at her/him strangely. They sniffed her/him experimentally, curious. A few growled, but she/he smiled reassuringly and held out a hand. A dog immediately stuck their head under the hand, and she/he began scratching. The growls died down, eventually disappearing, and she/he smiled.

\---

When Ariel was woken by the smell of coffee, she knew she'd had a strange dream, but couldn't recall it. For some reason, though, as she was led to the room with the dentist's-style chair and the machines, she didn't feel like she was facing it alone anymore.


	10. 5 days before...

They were questioning her again, but this time, they'd added a new level. Seemingly at random, they would send electric shocks through her when she told them she didn't know what they were talking about. A voice whispered that it really wasn't at random, that the questions they shocked her for all seemed to have answers that were just beyond her reach, but she couldn't grasp them. A part of her didn't want to, rebelling even when she desperately tried to look for the answers. Ariel made the mistake of mentioning this to them, and they immediately changed their tones, trying to be cajoling...distracting her from the man sneaking up behind her with a needle. But he knew the man was there, and Ariel jerked forward, away from the needle, at the last moment.

Ariel twisted her head around to glare at the needle man furiously, snarling, and electricity shot through her. Ariel gasped, going rigid, then slumping as the electricity stopped. There was the prick of a needle on her neck, and Ariel whimpered. Putting together coherent thoughts became harder, her vision lost its sharpness, and she couldn't seem to recall what was going on. Electricity shot through her, painfully, and she stared wide-eyed at the men in front of her. What had she done?!

"Let's try this again, shall we? How many Cybertronians were on earth at the time of the battle for the Allspark?" one of the men asked.

"I - I don't -" Ariel started to answer, eyes still wide, faltering at the men frowned. A vague recollection of pain following their frowns, and Ariel cringed, and then a number popped into her mind. "Thirteen." The men looked pleased.

"Excellent," one of them said with a smirk. "So what is the frequency Cybertronians communicate on?"

"I, uh -" Ariel blinked, but the answer didn't come to her fuzzy thoughts, and she whimpered. "I don't know!" The men frowned, and electricity coursed through her. Ariel screamed.

\---

_He'd just got off duty, and was heading back to his quarters. Suddenly something slammed into him from the left, pushing him through the suddenly open door on his right. With a yelp, he and his attacker went down with loud clangs as the door closed behind them. He hurriedly disengaged himself from the other and was already powering up his canon when he heard the laughter. Then he stared in surprise as the blue optics of his 'attacker' flicked on in the darkness._

_"And you said nobody could sneak up on you."_


	11. 4 days before...

Ariel woke up already being dragged through the hall by her usual two escorts. Before she could understand what was happening, she was back in the room with the chair and the machines, being strapped down. The man who had hypnotized her stepped forward, a needle in hand, and as she remembered what had happened the last time with the man, Ariel began to struggle, forcing back the pain and trying to get away. Amazingly, the strap holding down her left leg gave, and she kicked out with a scream of defiance. The hypnotizer staggered back, only just avoiding her foot, and Ariel struggled more, trying to loosen the other straps. The hypnotizer approached with the needle again, a determined look on his face, but someone stopped him with a shout.

"Don't, don't! These readings - start asking questions, quick!" someone said excitedly, and the hypnotizer lowered the needle as Ariel continued to tug on the straps of the chair.

"Tell me, what are the various states of consciousness for Cybertronians?" the hypnotizer asked softly. Ariel snarled at him.

 _"Frag off!"_ she snapped, and unexpectedly, the hypnotizer smiled broadly, setting the needle down on a tray.

"What is the primary source of power for Cybertronians?" he asked.

 _"I said frag off!"_ Ariel replied in a growl.

"How is power distributed through Cybertronian bodies? Is it in liquid form, or electrical?" the hypnotizer asked, undeterred - in fact, he was still smiling, albeit not as broadly.

 _"Go slag yourself!"_ Ariel snapped, then grinned as she felt the restraint on her right arm begin to give. _"Or better yet, let me!"_ The hypnotizer jerked back as her right arm broke the restraint and her hand lashed out towards him.

"No, leave the needle! Just stay out of her grasp!" The voice from before, this time panicked as Ariel scrambled with the restraint on her left arm, smiling gleefully. A glance at the hypnotizer revealed him backed into a corner, staring at her with wide eyes, and Ariel smirked at him as she freed her arm and began to work on the leg. Oh, how he enjoyed seeing the hypnotizer's fear. He wasn't one to enjoy fear normally, but after what they'd done to her, he was looking forward to turning that fearful expression into one of pain.

Unfortunately, Ariel wasn't going to get the chance. The hypnotizer slumping to the ground, unconscious, was the only warning she had as the gas permeated her lungs, working its way into her system, and she collapsed.

She woke for only brief periods for the rest of the day, fuzzily registering that she'd been strapped back down in the chair before there was a prick on the side of her neck, and she was sent back to unconsciousness.

\---

_He was sitting at his desk in his office - having only recently been curtly informed that he did, indeed, have one - trying to focus on a report of enemy activity. Key word was 'trying'. Several halls away, another was sitting in their office, bored to tears as someone else explained something extremely complex and scientific to them. This bored one was amusing themself by sending lurid thoughts his way, as well as snippets of memories of past encounters. It was very distracting._

_"Fraggit," he said finally, giving up. He stood and walked out of his office, not shutting anything off - or even locking the door - and stalked through the corridors to the other mech's office. "You - out. Now," he told the other, very boring, one in the room. Startled, they stared at him with wide optics until he growled at them, and then they quickly hurried out._

_"Something the matter?" the remaining mech asked, sitting behind their desk in all innocence._


	12. 3 days before...

She didn't know how late in the day it was, technically, but when Ariel woke, she knew it was later than when they normally came for her. For one thing, she felt rested, even if she did have a massive headache. The headache made her want to just go back to sleep, but something was luring her awake, and it took several moments for her to realize that it was the smell of coffee. Ariel bolted upright, eyes flying open, as she looked towards the front of her cell. Innocently sitting on the floor was a still-steaming cup of coffee, with a plate containing a sandwich next to it.

Ariel's eyes widened and her mouth watered as she saw the food - far better fare than the watery soups and obviously pre-packaged foods they'd been giving her up till now. Which was actually rather suspicious, so Ariel approached the food with a certain sense of wariness. She inspected the coffee first. It was black - not how she normally took it, but that was alright. She took a brief sip and couldn't taste anything wrong with it - it didn't even taste like decaf. Shrugging, Ariel put it back down, pausing to roll her tongue around, trying to determine if there was an unusual aftertaste to that brief sip. She could detect none, so she turned to the sandwich, which she began taking apart piece by piece.

The sandwich was simple, made with whole grain bread with mayo, lettuce (looked like romaine), a slice of tomato (she peeled that off while making a face and unrepentantly threw it through the bars of the cell, making a tomato-y splat on the wall of the hallway outside and likely startling the guard at the end of said hallway), and several thick slices of turkey. Everything looked to be the right colour, nothing smelled funny - not even the turkey - and tentative tastes of each of the remaining items on the sandwich could detect no discernable strange flavours or aftertastes. Still, Ariel set the sandwich back on the plate and sat down, a few feet away from the foot, eyeing it warily.

"To eat or not to eat, that is the question," she paraphrased musingly. Her stomach grumbled, helpfully putting in its opinion on the matter. Ariel sighed. "Ah, frag it. If they want to drug me, they're going to find a way to do it even if I don't eat the sandwich," she said to herself, and dug in. The sandwich was gone within moments, the coffee only taking longer because of its warmth. She was still sipping on it, in fact, when she heard the door at the end of the hallway open, and she rose and went to the bars of her cell and looked down the hall.

It was the hypnotizer man.

Ariel almost threw the mug and its remaining coffee at him as soon as she realized who he was, but didn't want to waste the liquid, even though it was more than likely that it was drugged, considering her visitor. She could always chuck the cup at him later, she reasoned as she headed towards the back of the cell. She sat down with her back against the back wall as the man came to stand in front of her cell.

"So it was drugged after all," she said as he simply observed her for a moment.

"No, actually," the man replied. "We were a bit concerned about the amount of drugs running through your system after yesterday, so we thought we might do this clean this time." Ariel snorted.

"Hypnotism requires at least a bit of co-operation, or an unfocused mind. The only way you're going to get either is with drugs, so, tough luck," she said.

"Ah, but I was thinking I might be able to get you to co-operate today," the man said with a smile, and Ariel gave him an incredulous look.

"Are you glitched?" she asked. "No, wait, don't answer that, of course you are. Why in the slagging Pits would I co-operate with you?"

"You've just said why," the man said, annoyingly still calm.

"What?" Ariel asked with a frown.

"Those words you just used - 'glitched', 'slagging Pits' - have you stopped and thought about them yet? Perhaps wondered what they meant, where they come from?" the man asked.

"Well, uh, let's see, my parents hated swearing of any kind, and I grew up with two older brothers who taught me to swear with the best of them. I kind of had to come up with creative ways to swear so that my parents wouldn't get mad at me," Ariel said sarcastically.

"Really now. Are you sure that's it?" the man asked.

"Of course it is. Slagtard," Ariel added the last part mulishly, glaring at the man.

"I don't think so," the man replied with a smile.

"Yeah, well, I'm the one saying them, I'm the one thinking them up, so what you think doesn't really count for diddly squat," Ariel said, glowering at the man.

"I beg to differ," the man said, smile widening. Ariel mentally groaned - this was going to be a looooong day.

\---

_Weapons fire was sounding all around him, but he didn't stop to fire back, didn't pause to look where he was going, didn't dive for cover. He could feel the one he was looking for ahead of him, calling for him, and so he went, running across the ground, ignoring the world around him and the shouted orders that rang in his head. Then he rounded a corner, and there was the mech he was looking for, sitting against a wall, hidden from view from either side, and missing a leg and damaged in various other spots, but not in life-threatening danger._

_"About slagging time." The infamous glare just didn't have the same impact when the other had only one working optic, or when both parties involved were sporting sappy grins._


	13. 2 days before...

Heavy footfalls and the opening of her cell door woke Ariel, and she groggily pushed herself upright and looked over, expecting to find her usual escort. Instead, it was two of the men from that gym-room - two of the men she'd beaten to a pulp. Ariel smirked.

"How are the bruises?" she asked innocently. The men scowled and headed for her, grabbing her arms and hauling her along the corridors. Ariel remained smirking as they pushed her into the room with the chair and the machines. The broken straps on the chair had been replaced with metal clamps, Ariel noticed, and she chuckled slightly.

"So what is it today?" she asked the room at large as the men left. "More hypnotism? Drugs? Maybe this time I get beat up while I'm tied down! I just hope it's not more psycho-babble like yesterday. That was boring. Oh good, company!" the last was said as the door opened again and two men in white lab coats entered. "Hiya, how are you guys?" The men ignored Ariel as she carried on a one-sided conversation, hooking her up to machines before injecting something and leaving.

"I feel so used," Ariel said mournfully after they left.

"So you should," a voice said from nowhere, and Ariel jumped, eyes wide. She looked around as much as she could, trying to see where the voice was coming from. "Don't bother - I'm not in the room."

"Scared you that much last time, did I?" Ariel asked with a smirk as she felt the drug begin to take effect, slowing down her thoughts.

"Hardly. We knew precautious would eventually be necessary, we just weren't sure when," the voice replied calmly.

"Yeah sure," Ariel said dryly.

"You certainly seem to be outspoken today," the voice commented. "Yesterday you were, as well."

"Yeah, well, you guys are startin' to piss me off, and I get talkative when I'm pissed off," Ariel replied, not even noticing the accent that was slipping into her voice.

"You? Or the one inside you?" the voice inquired.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about," Ariel replied pleasantly.

"Oh come now. We understand that you did not know when we originally captured you, but over the past several days we have opened your eyes," the voice replied.

"Uh-huh. And even if you had y'really think I'd tell you?" Ariel asked.

"That's an interesting accent you've picked up."

"Oh _Primus..."_ Ariel said with a groan, lifting her head up and letting it bang back against the headrest of the chair. "This _is_ goin' to be another day'a psychobabble, ain't it?"

"Avoiding the questions won't make this any shorter," the voice admonished.

"Shove it up your tailpipe," Ariel muttered, glaring at the room at large.

\---

_The other mech had his back to him, which was just fine with him. Others around him smothered laughter as he exaggerated sneaking towards the other, who was distracted reading something. Whatever it was engaged the other mech's attention so much that they didn't even feel him approach - which was just what he wanted. Stopping just outside the mech's personal space, he sent out a pulse of energy, the equivalent of a grope. The other yelped and jumped, literally falling out of their chair. Laughter rang out around him from the others, and he turned to them and posed, as if he'd done something heroic._

_Then it was his turn to yelp as a returning grope came from the other mech as he got up from the floor. More laughter, following them out of the room as he grabbed the other's hand and dragged him off to their quarters._


	14. The day before...

The room swam into hazy focus around her, and Ariel jerked as she realized she was back in the room with the chair and machines. She looked around in surprise - she could remember being taken back to her cell, then going to sleep, but she had no idea how she'd gotten back here. The sound of a door made her whip her head to the side, and she watched as the hypnotizer man entered. He didn't even pause, coming up and sticking her with a needle.

"What, no formalities today?" she asked as her mind, only just woken, began to blur again. This time, the drug seemed stronger, giving Ariel a sort of detachment from everything as the man left the room, and then a few moments later, the voice began asking questions. She was so out of it, Ariel couldn't even reply to the questions, but the voice seemed to expect this, at least for a time.

After awhile, Ariel had no idea how long exactly, more men entered and hooked up some machines to Ariel, and she watched with detached interest as they then flipped a switch on the device they'd hooked her up to and left the room. The voice asked another question, but the words went in one ear and out the other, without any stops between. Then, unexpectedly, pain shot through her, and Ariel screamed. The question was repeated, and Ariel tried to focus on it, to understand, but it was beyond her grasp. Pain came again. The question was repeated, and Ariel could understand it was something about the anatomy of something, but no more. Then even that understanding was gone, and she was left with a feeling of foreboding just before the pain came again, and again, she screamed.

The fourth time the question was repeated, panic began to permeate the effects of the drug as Ariel tried to understand - tried her hardest - but she couldn't...couldn't...

She felt her lips move, felt her lungs work, heard sounds, but it wasn't Ariel's doing. Had she been able to think, Ariel might've thought it strange, but as it was, she floated in a haze of non-thought, listening as she spoke, but she didn't, in reply to the voice. It was actually sort of relaxing - until the pain came again. Ariel screamed in unison with herself, and as the pain subsided and her mind slowly began to collect itself a little, she realized she was yelling, and with a little work, she understood that she was yelling insults. It occurred to her that the insults were somewhat odd, but at the same time, familiar. Then pain came again, and she screamed, eyes closing against the pain.

When she opened her eyes, the room was gone. Now she was standing in a different room, one with a desk in one corner, some pictures on the walls, and what looked like a large bed on one wall. The bed didn't look too comfortable, as it seemed to be made entirely of metal, but since the rest of the room looked metallic, she figured the decorator had just been going with the theme. There was a low sound, and a gentle gust of air washed over her. She turned to find the door open behind her, a shape silhouetted in the light of the hallway. She wanted to smile - she knew that silhouette - but she couldn't. Not now.

"No smile?" the silhouette asked quietly, noticing.

"I don't think I can right now," she answered just as quietly, sadness in her voice.

"Of course you can. It's in your programming to always be able to smile. You said so yourself," the silhouette said, stepping into the room. The door closed behind it, leaving only the dull light of the room itself to illuminate the other's form.

"I guess I lied," she said miserably. The other mech was silent for a moment before stepping towards her, and hand coming up to rest on the side of her face.

"We will see each other again," he said solemnly.

"Yeah, but after how long?" she answered sourly. In response, the other pulled her into a hug.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, softly, and she closed her eyes against the grief and panic at their oncoming separation.

Then the room and the other were gone. In their place, a foreign/familiar city street, half-destroyed, and falling away quickly beneath her and something pulled her through the air by one leg. She wasn't dropped so much as slammed into something by a foot, and then let go of. Weight pressed down on her, and she could feel her body buckling under it, but before any serious damage could be done, a hand grabbed her again, and the weight lifted, allowing her to be pulled out from underneath the foot.

"You wanna piece of me, huh?!" she screamed defiantly as she was lifted through the air, fire shots from her cannon at the creature that held her. _"You wanna piece a'me?!"_

"No, I want you in two!" A deep voice roared, and a hand wrapped around her upper half and pulled. Pain spread from her middle outwards as wires, cables, and metal began to snap, and for the first time ever in the midst of a battle, she panicked. Her thoughts turned to the other, and she screamed in agony, not over the pain, but the knowledge that she'd never see him again. Not until he too had felt this unimaginable, horrible pain, something she wouldn't even wish on her worst enemy. She screamed in agony long after her body died, feeling the bond between her and the other stretching, stretching...until finally, it snapped, and if the pain before had been horrible, this was a thousand times worse. There were no thoughts besides _pain pain pain,_ and then _make it stop make it stop make it stop!_

And when it did, she opened her eyes and found herself in the room again, strapped - no, bolted - down to the chair, machines around her, several of them making alarming beeping noises. She looked around wild-eyed, for a moment wondering what had happened to the city - to the other room with the desk and the uncomfortable-looking bed - and then the voice spoke.

"Hello there Jazz..." it practically purred, and then there was a hiss of gas entering the room, and moments later, she was unconscious.


	15. Present

She woke in her cell to find two men standing outside the bars with guns in hand, while a third one stood between them, watching her intently. She'd never really kept track of the different men, save for her escorts and the man who hypnotized her, but she knew with absolute certainty that she'd never seen the third man before. He was shorter than any of the others she'd seen, for one thing. Beyond that, however, not much made him stick out - he was balding , but not completely hairless. He wore a suit, perhaps a better cut than the others, but not much different besides that. He did have a watch, though - gold, from the look of it. And he had an air of importance about him that made Ariel wary. Even as she thought this, a second train of thought seemed to be running through her mind, analyzing the men with guns, their stances, and that of the third, along with the lock and hinges on her cell, calculating ways to get out and take the men down with the minimal amount of effort.

"And how are we feeling this morning?" he asked softly as Ariel sat up, eyeing him.

"Sore," Ariel said. _"Don't see why you should slagging care."_

"Ah, I had heard they'd fished the NBE out," the man replied with a smile.

"You mean tortured," Ariel replied crossly. _"My name is_ not _NBE!"_

"I can see they're going to have their hands full with you," the man replied with what looked like an indulgent smile. "Everybody needs their challenges, though."

"Who the hell are you, anyways?" Ariel asked with a snarl. _"I'll give you a fraggin' challenge - lemme out'a this cell, and you can have the challenge'a catchin' me 'fore I kill you all."_ The man laughed, a wheezing sort of creepy laugh that spoke of problems with his lungs.

"You _are_ a feisty one, aren't you?" the man said. "It's too bad that the strain of having two consciousnesses in one brain will likely drive you insane."

"Who's to say it hasn't already?" Ariel asked with a bitter laugh. The man laughed again, and Ariel mentally winced, disturbed by the sound, while outwardly she snarled, wanting to turn that wheezing laugh into the wheezing of lungs struggling to draw air past a throat constricted by hands pressing down on it - her hands, to be precise.

"True, true," the man said once his laughter ended. "I can see it's already starting to have its negative effects on you, which means it's time for me to leave, so my boys can get as much out of you as possible before you go completely insane. I do hope you co-operate with them, it will make your last sane days that much more comfortable. Ta now!" the last was said with a little wave, and then the man was walking away, the other two behind him. As soon as their backs were turned, and they were almost out of her sight, Ariel moved, reaching the front of her cell more quickly that should have been possible, and her hand shot out through the bars, latching onto the coat of one of the men with the guns.

Ariel jerked backwards, pulling the man to her, and grabbed for his gun. She ripped it out of his stunned hands easily, then continued to hold him there, shifting so she held him with one arm around his neck as she pulled the other arm back into the cell and shot out the lock on the door. Shots sounded, and the man she was holding jerked before going limp, and she dropped him, already heading for the now-open door to her cell. She somersaulted out of it as more shots fired, and when she landed, she brought her borrowed gun to bear, taking the other man down with one shot.

Even as she squeezed the trigger, Ariel saw the guard at the end of the hallway taking aim, and she moved as soon as the bullet left her gun, dodging the other guard's shot as she then jumped for him. She landed on him hard, knocking the gun from his grasp, fingers of one hand closing on his throat. They hit the ground, and the guard's hands shot to his throat, trying to free it from her grasp, and completely ignoring her other hand, which came down on his nose with a brutal crunch. The guard went limp under Ariel's hands, and she stood, calmly turning to face the apparently important short man. He was _cowering_ in fear, eyes wide, and she smiled reassuringly at him.

"Relax. I don't like to kill," she said smoothly. _"So which way is out, fragger?"_ The man began shaking, and a wet spot blossomed in the crotch of his pants. "But then, he doesn't mind killing, and you're fast becoming disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose. _"Coward."_

Moments later, she walked out of the hallway, leaving four unmoving bodies behind her. There were a few men out in the hall who looked startled at her appearance, but they never even got their guns out of their holsters. She paused as she looked down at them, tilting her head to one side and tapping her lips with a finger.

"What am I forgetting?" she asked herself musingly. _"Damn, forgot to ask 'em for directions._ Right, directions!" She glanced at the men on the floor. "Guess I'll have to ask the next guys." She moved on.


	16. Jazz

The research facility was small in Cybertronian terms, but moderately sized by human standards, with two floors above ground, and fifteen underground. The human-sized scale of the place, as well as the fact that it was underground, made it a bit difficult for the Autobots to move around like they normally would. They could fit through the corridors in their alt forms, but transforming either required a large room, or the destruction of walls and floors. As this could potentially cause the research facility to collapse in on itself, it was decided that destroying anymore walls or floors than absolutely necessary wasn't a good idea.

Naturally, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe weren't too pleased with this, but one of the newly-arrived agents had the bright idea that moving really quickly through corridors in cars that could drive and defend themselves, not to mention their passengers, was a good idea. So the twins each acquired two well-arms agents in their front seats, while Ironhide was put on round-up duty, scanning the surrounding area for escaping Seven Hands members, hunting them down, and taking them back to waiting FBI agents. He was also given the go-ahead to blow up any escape vehicles he could find, which he did gleefully.

One of the agents tried to suggest that Prowl take a couple agents with him, as well, but the tactician refused. Prowl was only here for one reason, after all. To rescue Ariel. So that was what he did, speeding ahead of the others, leaving a trail of chipped corners and dazed Seven Hands members behind him. As much as he wanted to, he didn't run over any, or even knock them violently out of the way. He gave them time to get out of his way, but ignored them otherwise, even when they tried to shoot out his tires. It was a bit tricky as he tried to get down through the levels, and he ended up just blowing out one entire side of a staircase so he could transform and use the other side to climb down, but he managed.

Finally, on the third lowest level, he found Ariel sauntering along a corridor. He was surprised that she had no guards, but considering how the Seven Hands members had been thinning out the lower down in the facility he'd gotten, he suspected that there was no one left to guard her, and she'd managed to escape whatever room she'd been held in. She probably didn't have a clue how to get out, though, so Prowl came to a stop mere inches from her legs and popped open his passenger door.

"Get in," he said flatly. Ariel stared at him for a moment...and then began one of the oddest exchanges Prowl had ever heard, made no less weird by the fact that she was having it with herself, or that she spoke with a rhythm, as if reciting a poem or song.

"Hm, my car is talking and driving itself - how odd," she said.

 _"Must be a 'Bot,"_ she answered herself, startling Prowl with the Autobot nickname.

"Might be a 'Con," she countered.

 _"There's no way to tell."  
_  
"There's always a mark."  
 _  
"Haven't seen one."  
_  
"Haven't looked."

 _"Can't look now - we'll run out of time."  
_  
"Might already be out, if it isn't a 'Bot."  
 _  
"If it isn't a 'Bot, it might not be a 'Con."  
_  
"What? There's a neither?"  
 _  
"There's always a neither - it's rare when there's an and."  
_  
"That's happened before?"  
 _  
"There's been a neither and a one, but never a 'Bot and a 'Con."  
_  
"Then why rare and not never?"  
 _  
"It slipped my mind - but that's neither here nor there."  
_  
"No, the problem now is a 'Bot or a 'Con."  
 _  
"It hasn't attacked."  
_  
"So it must be a 'Bot?"  
 _  
"Can't see why not."  
_  
"Might be a clever 'Con."  
 _  
"Just get in the damn car,"_ Ariel concluded the exchange with an aggrieved look, then jumped into Prowl's open passenger door. The Autobot himself hesitated for only the briefest of moment, contemplating as to whether or not he really wanted someone inside of him who was showing signs of being very insane, but since he'd come here to rescue her in the first place, he could handle her insanity later.

As he sped back up through the facility, he wondered if she'd always been this insane, and he'd just never noticed because he'd been so out of it, or if it was something the Seven Hands men had done to her. If it was something they'd done to her, Prowl swore that even Optimus wouldn't be able to stop him from killing a few. For now, though, it was just time to get out of here.

"I got her," Prowl told Sunstreaker as he passed the other Autobot at an intersection.

"Great, get her out, we'll wrap up here!" Sunstreaker said, sounding almost gleeful as he tore through the corridors with his two passengers. Not like either of the agents really had to do anything anymore, since most of the Seven Hands men seemed to be surrendering as soon as the car rounded the corner. This was handy for Prowl, as he encountered no resistance on his trip back up to the surface, coming to a stop beside the FBI medics and opening his door. Ariel got the hint and stepped out, and the medics were instantly all over her, sounding panicked.

That was when Prowl realized that Ariel's body and clothing were smeared with blood - she'd even left some of it on his seats. He suddenly wished Ratchet was there, even though he knew the human medics would probably be more help for Ariel right now, and he kept a close eye on his adopted human as the medics cleaned her up and bandaged the wounds they could find. Oddly, there didn't seem to be a lot of them, and most small enough that Prowl wondered at how organics must leak blood if that amount came from just those few small wounds.

The medics finished taking care of Ariel about the time that the other three Autobots and the FBI strike team finished rounding up the Seven Hands agents, though they reported that there seemed to be several lower levels that they couldn't get into because someone had enacted a security lock-down when they'd attacked.

"I'm kind of surprised you managed to get Miss Barrett out - we didn't see anything that looked like a detention cell on the unlocked levels," Agent Bradburn said to Prowl.

"She was walking free when I found her - I suspect our attack caused enough of a distraction that she could escape by herself," Prowl answered gruffly.

"Hmm, I suppose that is possible," Bradburn said musingly, staring thoughtfully for a few moments at Ariel, who sat on the back bumper of one of the FBI's SUVs, wrapped in a blanket and watching the events around her with quiet interest. Then Bradburn shook himself, and turned to the Autobots, Ironhide and the twins having come to rest behind Prowl, out of the way of the FBI. "I - ah, well, I'm not quite sure how to handle the aftermath in relation to you guys. Normally I'd have all my agents write up reports."

"We can do the same," Ironhide said reassuringly, then eyed the twins. "An' I'll proof-read theirs before you get them to save you a headache."

"Oh, ah, excellent," Bradburn said, sounding surprised, yet pleased. "As for Miss Barrett -"

"I'm taking her home," Prowl stated.

"Well, I'd like to have her checked over a little more thoroughly first, just to make sure there's no internal injuries or nasty surprises anywhere," Bradburn said, sounding apologetic, even though Prowl could understand his logic. "However, Washington _is_ relatively near Boston, so if you promise to bring her up to be looked over, once she's OKed, you can take her home."

"Of course," Prowl said.

"Good," Bradburn said with a smile.

\---

It was several days later before Prowl, being driven by Ariel, pulled into the driveway of the Barrett household, and when her parents and brothers emerged, panicked and relieved, he realized that nobody had thought to tell them what was going on. Ariel wasn't exactly forth-coming, either - in fact, she hadn't spoken more than a word at a time since her little exchange inside the base before she got into Prowl. It was somewhat worrying, especially with some of the odd readings the doctors had gotten on her MRIs, but supposedly neither were something to worry about. They'd told Prowl that Ariel should slowly begin to open up again and talk - though if she didn't, he'd need to bring her in again. For now, though, he was able to just sit back and watch as Ariel's family surrounded her, expressing their worry, asking where she'd been, and what had happened.

"Road trip," was Ariel's simple response after their badgering got to be too much. That, of course, led to lectures from her parents on responsibility, and telling people where she was going, while her brothers laughed and told her to let them know so they could come with next time. Finally, things had calmed down enough that Ariel's mother was herding them towards the house, but they stopped as two black SUVs drove up, parking behind Prowl. The tactician tensed, ready to expose himself if it was more Seven Hands agents, but he relaxed a bit as Agent Bradburn got out of one of the SUVs.

"Sorry for interrupting your reunion, but I'm afraid we aren't quite as done with Miss Barrett as we thought we were," Bradburn said stiffly, showing his badge to Ariel's family. His apology was aimed as much at them as it was at Prowl.

"The FBI? Ariel, what's going on?" Mrs. Barrett asked in confusion, turning to her daughter. Ariel just smiled reassuringly up at her mother, then stepped away from her family and towards Bradburn.

"No, Ariel, you're not going with them until we find out what's going on," Ariel's dad said firmly, stopping his daughter with a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, dad. It's nothing," Ariel said reassuringly, then added with a mild glare. _"Get your fraggin' hand off me."_ The dual response, with two completely different accents and attitudes attached, threw everyone off, including Prowl, who'd dismissed that strange exchange in the Seven Hands base as a product of shock. In surprise, Ariel's dad actually withdrew his hand, and Ariel stepped out of reach. "Do you mind if I take Prowl? _He'll prob'ly follow either way,"_ Ariel guessed rightly, and Bradburn hesitated, then nodded.

"Of course. Go ahead," Bradburn said, motioning for her to continue, and Ariel turned and waved to her family, saying goodbye, before returning to Prowl's driver's seat. Prowl started up immediately, not even waiting for her to turn the key in his ignition, and Bradburn apologized again to the Barrett's before climbing into his SUV, and they set off, one vehicle ahead of Prowl, the other behind. Ariel's family watched them go in stunned surprise, before her father stormed into the house to 'make a few phone calls'.

To Prowl's surprise, the FBI agents led him all the way back up to Washington, arriving late in the evening at a facility outside the city that had been specifically built with the idea of Autobot-human conferences in mind. Most of the facility was Autobot-sized, with platforms and occasional rooms with human-sized furniture and necessities. From what Prowl had gathered when he, Ironhide, and the twins had been staying there while Ariel was checked over, the building normally didn't see much use, but apparently it was getting some now. Ironhide had still been there when Prowl had left that morning, but he'd since been joined by Optimus and Ratchet, all of whom were looking concerned. Their expressions only deepened, if anything, when they saw Ariel get out of Prowl. As soon as she was out, and the humans were clear, Prowl transformed and looked at the others.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"They broke the lock-down," Ariel answered for the other Autobots. _"Took 'em long enough."_

"She's right," Bradburn said as he and two other FBI agents that had gotten out of the SUVs escorted Ariel onto a lift, which brought them up to one of the platforms that was closer to optic-level with the Autobots.

"And?" Prowl asked warily, sensing there was more to that simple statement than it seemed. Bradburn waiting as Ariel was escorted to a chair, which she sat in without question, sprawling in it in a way that Prowl found distractingly familiar.

"What we found in the lower levels..." Bradburn took a deep breath. "We were expecting to find a bunch of hungry men, glad to be let out, or perhaps empty corridors, with everyone having escaped. Worst case, they put in a failsafe and released lethal gas, killing everyone. What we found was..." Bradburn trailed off, looking a little ill.

"A massacre," Ratchet stated flatly when he realized the agent seemed unable to continue. "There were corpses everywhere, many of them killed brutally. And they weren't killed by gas. There were knife and bullet wounds, several of them had broken or crushed limbs. Blood was everywhere. A few of the corpses even showed signs of having been killed with deliberate slowness. One had been hung upside down and left to slowly bleed to death."

"What?" Prowl asked, shocked. "How - who -"

"We were wondering the same thing, but the security offices had been on the lower levels, and all recordings had been destroyed," Bradburn said. "Then one of my agents managed to find the time the security lock-down was activated."

"And?" Prowl asked.

"It was activated several hours before we attacked," Bradburn said softly. "Those levels were sealed off an hour before Sunstreaker even found the place. So we took a bit of a risk and questioned some of our captured Seven Hands men. Fortunately, they actually co-operated willingly once they realized what we wanted to know. Apparently the lock-down was instigated at the panicked request of one of the guards from the lower levels, who said that the 'prisoner' had gotten loose, and was killing everyone." All eyes turned to Ariel.

 _"They fraggin' deserved it,"_ she snarled, shifting tensely in her chair.

"So you don't deny it?" Bradburn asked, sounding shocked.  
 _  
"Why should I? Thirteen days of torture, they deserved every bit'a it. Frag, I actually wish I could've taken longer with that hypnotizer-guy,"_ Ariel said dismissively. Prowl felt cold as he listened to her speak.

"No one deserves that," Optimus said, sounding shocked himself.  
 _  
"Maybe, maybe not. It felt good, though,"_ Ariel said with a shrug. Bradburn was looking more than a little ill, Prowl noticed. Prowl himself wasn't feeling too good - he suddenly wanted to go get scrubbed down with acid, unable to believe that he'd let this psychopathic human ride around inside him. "More like it distracted him from the pain he was already feeling."

"What?" Ratchet asked with a frown.

"Well, he was already torn up inside, so when the chance came to escape, it was sort of a welcome distraction," Ariel said, shrugging. Her entire attitude seemed to have changed - not only had she visibly straightened in the chair, no longer sprawling, but she was enunciating more carefully, and seemed almost nervous as she spoke. "He probably got a little carried away, though."

"He who?" Ratchet asked.

 _"Me, Hatchet."_ The sprawl was back, as was the lazy accent. It wasn't just the Autobot nickname for Ratchet, but it was the figurative straw that broke the camel's back - or in this case, made Ariel's behaviour, attitude, and what she was saying click into place for Prowl.

"Oh Primus!" he gasped as realization hit him, staring at Ariel. "Jazz?!" Ariel grinned back.

 _"Hey, give the 'Bot an energon goody, he figured it out,"_ she said. _"Nice alt form, by the way. Pick it on purpose?"_ Prowl was unable to answer, staring in a mixture of horror and shock at the human woman he now knew with absolute certainty held the consciousness, if not spark, of his bonded - or ex-bonded, he supposed, as the bond itself had been broken when Megatron had supposedly killed Jazz.

"What? Prowl?" Ratchet asked with a frown.

"Jazz..." Prowl shook his head. "How?"

 _"Dunno,"_ Ariel said with a shrug. _"I can't remember much between Megatron and runnin' into you in the base, besides pain._ I didn't even know he was in there until that guy hypnotized me."

"Hypno...maybe you should start at the beginning, Miss Barrett...or Jazz?" Bradburn said uncertainly.

"Just call me Ariel for now, it'll be easier," Ariel said with a wry smile. "After all, that's really who I am. Jazz is, technically, only the psychotic voice in my head that tells me to kill people. _Actually I don't even waste the time tellin' her to kill them, I just do it myself when they slag me off by spendin' almost an orn torturin' some clueless person just t'get t'me."_

"Wait, so Jazz can control your body?" Ratchet asked with a frown, and Ariel gave him a 'duh' look.

 _"How else would I be talkin'?"_ she demanded. "We're literally two consciousnesses in one body. I have slightly better control, probably because for one, it's my body, and for another, he isn't used to a human body versus a mech one. _Plus I'm still reelin' from the whole dyin' thing. That was a bit disorientin'. The bond-snappin' hurt like a bitch, too."_

"What?! You mean you and Prowl -" Ratchet looked at Prowl in surprise.

"If we were still bonded, I would have known he wasn't dead, Ratchet," Prowl pointed out, arching an optic ridge at the medic, who nodded thoughtfully.

"Excuse me, bonded?" Bradburn interrupted.

"Not important for you to know," Ariel said dismissively, even as the Autobots shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of how to explain Prowl and Jazz's bond to the humans. Fortunately, Bradburn seemed to accept Ariel's dismissal of the topic, but only in favour of another.

"Alright, then, how about that explanation?" he asked instead.

"There's not really much to say - Jazz died, and somehow ended up in my body, both of us completely unaware. By some undetermined method, Seven Hands discovered he was in there, and kidnapped me in order to get information out of him. They tortured me - well, us - for twelve days before Jazz finally woke up fully, thanks to that bloody hypnotist. _Literally, now!"_ Ariel giggled to herself, and the humans weren't the only ones disturbed by it. _"Anyways, they were about to start on the serious interrogation, but considerin' that they know practically nil 'bout me, besides the basics, they don't know my skills, an' so underestimated me. I escaped, killin' the fraggers that got in my way, an' was makin' my way out of the base when Prowl found us."_ Prowl grimaced and glanced at the others, wondering if the changing pronouns were giving anyone else a headache, even as he tried not to comprehend what his ex-bondmate had just said. Optimus had no such luxury, however.

"Why did you kill the ones that got in your way?" he asked intently. "I know you, Jazz - I've walked through a Decepticon outpost you've captured without seriously damaging any of the dozen mechs stationed there. You were one of my main supporters when I ordered the Autobots to avoid harming indigenous life forms at all costs while we sought the Allspark."

"And y' _like_ earth, more than any other planet we've been to," Ironhide added. Ariel considered for a moment, then shrugged.

 _"Death changes a mech, I suppose,"_ she said, then snorted. "No kidding. _I meant psychologically._ I knew what you meant. Though why would dying change you into someone who doesn't mind killing? I seem to remember you thinking as you were dying that you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy - _yeah well, maybe I changed my mind."_

"I don't believe that," Optimus said with a frown.

 _"Yeah, well, your flaw has always been that you believe the best of everyone,"_ Ariel said with a very disparaging, sarcastic look. "Gives a new meaning to his name if you like word play." Ariel snickered to herself, and the Autobots exchanged stunned looks - Jazz had never been disrespectful to Optimus in his long, long life. Maybe a little cheeky or insubordinate, but disrespectful?

 _::I don't like this, Optimus,::_ Ratchet's voice said over a communications channel, then glanced towards Prowl. _::You're sure that's really Jazz in there, Prowl?::_

 _::He's gained the violent tendencies of a Decepticon, but I know it's him,::_ Prowl replied without hesitation. He could feel it, now - he'd been feeling the pulling of Jazz's spark for some time, in fact, and just hadn't noticed it until now, thinking it was an illusion brought on by grief.

 _::Y'think those tendencies were brought on by whatever Seven Hands did t'the two'a them?::_ Ironhide asked.

 _::Possibly,::_ Ratchet said uncertainly. _::I'd have to run some tests to be sure.::_

 _::We'll try and convince the humans to leave Ariel and Jazz in our care for now,::_ Optimus said, and the Autobots turned their attention back to the humans. Fortunately, with the speed of communication over the channel, their conversation was actually a lot shorter than it seemed, so the humans were only a little suspicious. Ariel's knowing look showed that Jazz knew exactly what had just occurred, though. She stayed quiet, though, as Optimus began some of the finest diplomacy Prowl had seen in a long time, neatly maneuvering Bradburn into suggesting himself that the Autobots look after Jazz and Ariel for the time being. Optimus readily agreed to the stipulation that, if it turned out Jazz had gone bad, and wasn't just suffering from some form of temporary insanity at the time he'd escaped, he would be charged under human law, since he was now human. As the humans left, Ratchet expressed surprise about Optimus' readiness to agree to that.

 _::We can always bring up the conundrum about what to do with Ariel, considering she and Jazz are in the same body,::_ Optimus replied with the ghost of a smirk as the four Autobots transformed.

"Jazz, Ariel, if you would come with me?" Ratchet requested as Ariel made her way back down to the floor and started heading for Prowl. She hesitated, seemed ready to argue, but in the end, turned and climbed into Ratchet's front seat. Prowl wasn't the only one to notice the medic locking his doors and strapping the seatbelt tightly around his new passenger.


	17. Prowl

It was a long ride back to the Autobot base, and Ratchet kept scanning Ariel the entire way, asking probing questions. His prognosis wasn't good - even after only the few days ride to the base, the decline in Ariel and Jazz's mental health was obvious. It was getting harder and harder to tell which of them was speaking, with accents, word usage, and pronouns changing in the middle of sentences, sometimes multiple times. Worse, it seemed that it wasn't just that Jazz had violent tendencies - he and Ariel both seemed to be suffering from extreme moods. It wasn't even mood _swings,_ it was just extreme _moods,_ period. When they got mad, they slipped into a murderous rage. When they were happy, it was so intense you couldn't help but be happy with them. And Ratchet had been forced to sedate Ariel and Jazz the one time they'd become depressed, for fear of what they might do.

It was frightening to see any being, let alone one that was partly the usually together Jazz, such a mess. Prowl was actually thankful for the fact that they pretty much drove straight to the base, only stopping for food for Ariel. He wasn't sure if he could handle being around Ariel, and Jazz, in such a state, especially while he was still attempting to accept the fact that his spark mate was actually alive, though no longer bonded to him, and sharing the body of a human. 

Eventually, of course, they reached the Autobot base, and while Prime had told the others they'd be returning, he obviously hadn't told them anything else, and neither had the other 'Bots. They were surprised to see Prowl, but even more surprised when they saw Ariel, and she snapped off a few comments to them that made it quite clear that Jazz was inside of her. Fortunately, she and Jazz were in one of their extremely good moods, so the revelation went better than expected. Which was how it ended up that, when Ratchet had run his tests and went to give his full medical report to Prime and Prowl, everybody else wanted to hear, too. After checking to see if Prowl objected - he'd rather they all be there at the initial meeting than be bothered by them afterwards - Prime shooed everyone into the largest meeting room and made the report a public affair. The only ones on the base not attending were Hound and Bluestreak, who were on guard and communications duty, respectively, and Ariel and Jazz, who were still sleeping off the effects of the sedative Ratchet had needed to use for his last test.

"From what I can tell, Jazz's mind has literally been imprinted into Ariel's," Ratchet began. "I'm not sure how this happened, but there's some strange tissue damage in certain areas of her brain that I can't identify. It looks somewhat like what I would theorize brain tissue to look like after it had healed from a burn, but since that normally doesn't happen, I have nothing but speculation to go on. There are, however, no scars on Ariel's skull that would indicate any type of invasive human surgery."

"So Seven Hands didn't do this to her?" Ironhide asked gruffly, and Ratchet nodded.

"Unless they have far more advanced Cybertronian medical equipment at their disposal than we've even caught a hint of, no," he said. "Plus, if they had done this, why would they have waited so long to kidnap her and 'wake' Jazz? No, I don't know how Jazz got in Ariel's head yet, I only know he's there."

"Now, from what Ariel and Jazz both say," Ratchet continued, "Ariel was not aware of Jazz's presence until recently, while Jazz was not aware of anything at all between the battle in Mission City and waking up in Ariel's body as Seven Hands' captive. According to them, they both knew instinctively what the situation was, once Jazz had fully woken up - if not the specifics, like now, then at least that there was another mind in the body. More knowledge - names, memories, abilities - came quickly with time. Is still coming, in fact. Some cross-referencing shows gaps in both Ariel and Jazz's knowledge of each other's memories, though questions quickly led to those gaps being remedied."

"Is that wise?" Prime asked with a frown, and Ratchet immediately shook his head.

"I don't think so, no. I stopped asking questions as soon as I realized what was going on," he said.

"Why?" Sideswipe asked, curious.

"The more Ariel and Jazz learn about each other, the more their minds are melding together, in both the physical and psychological sense," Ratchet said with a frown. "The humans weren't able to catch it with their MRI machines, but Ariel's brain is actually supporting two minds, each operating within the same tissue. If one of them isn't using a synapse, the other is, or vice versa. Fortunately, human's don't use all of their brains - at least not consciously - so there's some extra space for Jazz to use, otherwise I might be finding degradation of personalities or memories."

"Isn't that already happening in regards to their personalities?" Prowl asked with a frown of his own.

"No. Ariel and Jazz's personalities are still intact. They're just...slowly combining," Ratchet said. "I believe that's what's making their moods so...extreme. They're feeling each other's moods along with their own, and acting accordingly. In other words, they're feeling everything double. The same is apparently going for their senses, as well - they've become extremely sensitive to touch, and hearing, sight, smell, and taste have become more acute. They can't sense things from farther away, but they can sense _more._ The other day I found them listening to two recordings at the same time and hearing every word, and when I tested them, they could read up to three separate things in three different areas of their vision. Furthermore, they correctly determined every single ingredient in their lunch, right down to the chemicals used as preservatives, almost a third of them by smell alone."

"So Ariel and Jazz are slowly combining. Besides this causing the loss of Jazz as we know him, how exactly is this bad?" Sunstreaker, surprisingly, asked, and at the angry looks of others, he quickly continued, "Not that I want them to combine, I want Jazz back, _normal_ Jazz back, as much as anyone - well, except Prowl."

"The problem is that their combined minds aren't very stable," Ratchet said with a sigh. "Humans can sometimes develop something called Dissociative Identity Disorder, where they develop two or more distinct personalities all by themselves. Naturally, this isn't very healthy for them mentally. Suicidal or self-mutilating tendencies, panic attacks, depression - there are numerous symptoms, none of which are good for the person involved. That is, however, whenever you have one mind developing different personalities, usually unaware of each other. With Ariel and Jazz, it's two entirely separate minds, with associating personalities and memories, completely aware of each other, combining into one. They are constantly aware of one another, and each other's thoughts and feelings. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, you're probably the closest to understanding what they're feeling, but on a much, _much_ lesser scale. To be truthful, it's probably more like..." Ratchet trailed off, then grinned his 'evil doctor look', as Sideswipe had called it, before continuing, "More like when you've just overloaded with a partner, only without the pleasure involved, and _all_ the time. That complete sharing, of every thought, feeling, and sensation, every moment, all the time, with no way to block it out or separate yourself from it."

"Sounds...uncomfortable," Tracks murmured.

"More than that, it's stressful, on mind and body," Ratchet said with a sigh. "And it's made even worse because of the differences between human and Cybertronian physiology and psychology."

"How so?" Optimus asked.

"It's a little difficult to explain in simple terms," Ratchet said, frowning and thinking for a moment, "The best I can do is this: Cybertronian instincts, our gut reactions, are all pieces of programming. Granted, they're pieces of programming written by our Sparks during the first few solar cycles after we come online, but that's all they are - programming. Entirely psychological. Now, humans, as an organic species, don't have the same type of programming. Their mind will contain some of those reactions, and will trigger chemical reactions in their bodies which will make those reactions stronger, or weaker, depending. These chemical reactions within their body, essentially, affect what they do. They can over-ride those biochemical imperatives - otherwise they wouldn't be the intelligent species they are today - but it takes some effort.

"Now imagine a mech, whose entire psychology is contained within their mind, suddenly being presented with an extra set of signals from a human body's chemical reactions. Or a human mind suddenly having its mind present it with the same reactions its body is supposed to. And both minds being so stressed that it's next to impossible for them to resist the additional set of reactions," Ratchet said, pausing just long enough to allow everyone to do so. "This is why Jazz and Ariel are having such extreme moods. The difference between their two _natural_ forms is causing them to over-react to everything. I believe it's partially responsible for the brutal deaths of the Seven Hands men. It's not that either of them has become psychopathic murderers - it's that their emotions are out of control."

"So what does all this mean?" Prowl asked quietly.

"Well, to sum it all up: Jazz and Ariel sharing the same head, completely aware of each other, is slowly driving both of them insane. Eventually, they won't be able to distinguish between each other's thoughts and feelings. Not only will we lose Jazz as we know him, but Ariel will be gone, as well. In their place will be someone who has twice the mental capabilities as normal, but who doesn't even know who they are, with extreme moods, and most likely, practically no self-control or willpower." There was silence for several minutes.

"How long?" Prowl asked.

"From the rate of degradation I've seen so far? Less than a week. As it is, once they wake up, I want someone watching Ariel all the time," Ratchet said flatly.

"Is there any way to...slow it down?" Prime asked with a frown.

"There is a possibility that we might be able to hypnotize Ariel and Jazz so that either they became unaware of each other again, or that only one was awake at one time, but I have no idea if that would affect the damage already done, or how much it would help. It might lead to a more catastrophic collapse later," Ratchet said with a shrug, then grimaced. "Plus, apparently the most mangled of the corpses found in the lower levels of the Seven Hands base was a hypnotist who helped wake Jazz up. I suspect Ariel and Jazz would object to any further hypnotism, even by us."

"That sounds likely," Prime said with sour amusement. "What other options do we have?"

"I... _could_ put them in an induced coma," Ratchet said uncertainly. "Again, I don't know how that would affect the damage already done, or even if it would stop the process."

"Sounds like you don't know much of anything that would help," Sunstreaker commented, and Ratchet turned to the yellow warrior with a snarl, optics blazing with anger.

"This is an _entirely new_ situation, Sunstreaker, which so far as I have been able to determine, shouldn't have even been possible in the first place! I am completely and utterly without any form of prior medical knowledge to go on, _especially_ since I'm dealing with _human_ physiology and psychology, which I hadn't even _heard_ of until _less than a decade_ ago! So excuse me if I'm a little out of my depth here!" Ratchet snapped, leaning menacingly towards the twin, who shrank back a bit, optics a little wide.

"Ratchet, that's enough," Prime said. "We know you're doing your best." Ratchet leaned back with a huff, still glaring at Sunstreaker. "What have Ariel and Jazz said about the situation?"

"Apparently they know that they're driving each other insane," Ratchet said, still scowling lightly. "One of the founders of Seven Hands decided to 'visit' them after Jazz was fully awakened and told them about the probable consequences. They also gave me graphic details on how he was killed." Prime, and several other mechs, grimaced.

"And did they express any...opinion about this occurrence?" Prime inquired after a moment.

"All they did was laugh at the thought, sir," Ratchet intoned flatly after a pause, then continued with a glance to Prowl. "If I may, however - I have noticed that mentioning Prowl, or having him within visual range, tends to focus both their minds a bit more than normal. It's not a considerable change, but it _is_ noticeable."

"I see," Prime said, and he, along with many of the mechs in the meeting room, turned their optics to the tactician. "Prowl, I know this must be difficult for you, but would you be willing to work with Ratchet in this?" Prowl sat unmoving for a moment, considering the consequences of doing as Prime asked. He had found just the little snippets he'd seen and heard of Ariel and Jazz on the way to the base to be stressful, and knew that prolonged exposure would only cause him more pain. On the other hand, this was _Jazz._

"It's the least I owe him," Prowl murmured out loud, then brought his gaze up to meet first Ratchet's, then Prime's. "I will help."

"Good," Prime said with a nod.

"We'd best get back to med bay before they wake up, then," Ratchet declared, and the briefing was officially over. Several of the 'bots looked like they wanted to follow Ratchet and Prowl back to the med bay, but seemed to think better of it, for which Prowl was grateful. This would be the first time he had willingly spent any sort of even mildly private time with Jazz and Ariel since the aborted trip back to Boston, after all, and he knew it was bound to be awkward.

"Hey, lookit, we finally get some company!" the cheerful voice greeted their return to med bay, and Prowl looked over to one of Ratchet's med bay berths and found Ariel standing there, hands on hips in a way disturbingly like Jazz. Apparently they were in a good mood right now. "How'd th'briefin' go, Doc?"

"As expected, save for Sunstreaker being an insensitive aft," Ratchet replied, then frowned and considered, "No, wait, that was expected, too." Ariel sniggered.

"Yeah, he's like that. He does have a mushy romantic side to him, though," she commented conversationally. "Rare t'see, now, but it's there."

"Dare I ask how you saw it?" Prowl asked, arching an optic ridge as he leaned against the berth next to Ariel and Jazz's.

"Let's just say Jazz had adventures before I met ya, Prowler, an' leave it at that," Ariel said with a smirk, and Prowl took a moment to comprehend what had been implied before shaking his head slightly.

"Yes, let us," the tactician agreed dryly. "How are you two feeling after Ratchet's tests?"

"Fine, fine...a little hungry," Ariel murmured. "Hey did anyone tell the chicka's parents about what's happening with me?"

"Ah, the FBI was going to come up with something," Prowl replied.

"Of course," Ariel replied with a nod. "So what're you doin' here, anyways? Though ya were avoiding him." Prowl frowned, and glanced to Ratchet, who appeared to be searching through his, and several other, medical databases, completely oblivious to the conversation. Ariel, or Jazz, didn't miss the glance. "Ahh, ol' Hatchet suggested you come an' keep us company? For my benefit or yours?"

"Yours," Prowl replied after a moment.

"Good 'nough. Does seem to be calmer inside here when you're around," Ariel said, tapping her head with a finger. Seemingly Ratchet _was_ paying attention to the conversation, however, as that brought his head up and around.

"Really? You can feel a noticeable difference when Prowl is present?" the medic inquired, sounding surprised. Ariel shrugged.

"Seems like, yeah. It's generally quieter when there's anyone else 'round, actually. Gives me somethin' t'focus on, instead of just leaving us with our numerous thoughts. Prowl tends to quiet Jazz's mind a lot more than anyone else, though, which makes it easier for us," Ariel replied.

"What about when you're sleeping?" Ratchet inquired.

"Worse," Ariel said tersely.

"So an induced coma would be out of the question," Ratchet mused, and Ariel nodded.

"Very much so," she said, then adopted a hurt look, "And I'm absolutely devastated that you would think of doin' such a thing. I thought ya liked me, Hatchet."

"I do. As separate people," Ratchet said, turning back to his files.

"Are we really that bad?" the question seemed amused.

"The constant switching of pronouns takes a little getting used to, but it's more the fact that having you both in the same body is going to drive you both insane, so that you two will eventually cease to exist, that bother me," Ratchet said without turning around.

"Do I switch pronouns frequently?" Ariel asked in surprise, turning to Prowl, and the tactician nodded.

"You do," he said.

"Huh," Ariel said with a frown. "We'll try and limit ourselves to the plural for ease of understanding."

"It might be best if you just continued as usual," Prowl commented. "We don't want your minds combining any faster than they already are."

"Oh, ok. Guess y'all will just hafta suffer through my confusing pronouns then," Ariel said, and the grin she gave Prowl was so reminiscent of Jazz that it was almost painful for the tactician to see it. Jazz must have seen Prowl's reaction to it, as both he and Ariel became very quiet suddenly, giving Prowl a searching look. "Ratchet, do you think it would be alright if Prowl took Jazz and I out for a walk? Just around the base or something." The question was surprisingly clear of Jazz's accent, and Ratchet gave the human a surprised look before glancing up at Prowl. The tactician nodded slightly - even with Jazz's knowledge, there wasn't much a human could do against or to get away from him, considering they were in the middle of a desert.

"Go ahead," Ratchet said with a nod. "Just come back in immediately if you even suspect something unusual or off is happening. That goes for all three of you."

"Of course, Ratchet," Prowl said with a nod, then held out a hand for Ariel. She not only climbed onto it, but then up his arm and onto his shoulder, eventually wedging herself in a crack in his armour and settling herself before telling Prowl she was ready. Ratchet and Prowl exchanged amused looks before the tactician headed out of the med bay, making for the exit to the base. Neither of them spoke until they were outside, and well out of earshot of the base, even for mech hearing.

 _"I guess this didn't work out exactly th'way we planned, huh Prowler?"_ It didn't take much to realize that it was purely Jazz speaking, as much as the earlier request for a walk had been purely Ariel.

"No. It did not," Prowl said, and Ariel let out a sour laugh.

 _"You were right, though. We are seein' each other again, if only for a little while,"_ Jazz said through her.

"There is that," Prowl replied softly. Silence fell again for a short time as Prowl make his way towards a rocky outcropping. He stopped when he reached it, and the human on his shoulder spoke again.

"You know his only thought as he died was of you," she said. "Not of the Autobot cause, not of the battle, nor the Allspark. Just you. He didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"We'd said our goodbyes a long time ago," Prowl said.

 _"You may have, Prowler, but I didn't. Even though I felt, deep down, that we'd never see each other again...I didn't let myself believe,"_ Jazz replied.

"I know," Prowl said. "I never expected you to. It's not in your personality to believe that something good can end forever. You didn't believe Cybertron, the old Cybertron, was truly lost until we sent the Allspark into space. You kept Ironhide's hope for Chromia alive for all the years that Shockwave held her captive. It's just...the way you are."

 _"Were,"_ Jazz said bitterly. _"I've changed a lot since then. I know now that good things can, and do, end."_

"I wish you'd never had to learn that lesson," Prowl said softly.

 _"Well, all good delusions come to an end sometime,"_ Jazz said with a touch of bitter sarcasm, and Prowl couldn't help but chuckle slightly. They stood in silence for a moment longer before Prowl turned and headed back to the base.

 _"Prowl -"_ the tentative voice stopped Prowl at the doors, and he turned his head carefully to look at the human on his shoulder. _"I'm not foolin' myself about what's happenin' t'me and Ariel. I know we're goin' insane. An' just in case I don't have th'coherency t'talk t'you like this again..."_ Jazz hesitated before continuing, this time locking gazes with Prowl. _"Goodbye. I love you. I wish we could've lasted longer, but we've had a fraguva run as it is, an' I'll be waitin' for ya in th'Matrix. Just try an' make me wait awhile, hey? As these humans say, absence makes th'Spark grow fonder._ And the last thing either of us wants is for you to go through what Jazz did." Prowl remained silent, unable to think of a reply, and was saved from having to make one as Optimus called for him over the comm lines. With a mixture of guilt and relief, he relayed the call to Ariel, who suggested dropping her and Jazz off in med bay, where Ratchet could watch over them. Prowl agreed, heading in the right direction, and when they got there, he let Jazz and Ariel down without a word. As he turned to leave, he stopped to meet Ariel's gaze.

"Goodbye, Jazz," he said softly, reaching out with a finger to touch the side of her face, and Ariel's eyes closed as she sighed softly. Then she opened them again and smiled, a happy smile, so carefree that it made Prowl's spark ache.

"You'd better go see what Prime wants," she said, and Prowl nodded, and swiftly turned and left. Behind him, Ariel turned to see Ratchet watching discreetly from across the med bay, and when he met her gaze, he nodded and turned back to his work.


	18. Forever

"Prowl, come in," Optimus said when the tactician stopped in his office doorway uncertainly, despite the fact that he'd been called down there. "You remember Agent Bradburn?" Optimus said, motioning to the human standing in front of him on his desk.

"Of course," Prowl said, nodding to the human.

"Hello Prowl," the Agent said. "I've got some news about how Seven Hands managed to track down Jazz."

"Oh?" Prowl asked curiously.

"Apparently, since they weren't officially shut down by that point, Sector Seven was still following its primary mandate during the battle in Mission City - which was to observe and record everything they could about the 'NBE's. Otherwise known as all Cybertronians," Agent Bradburn said. "I couldn't even begin to list all the surveillance equipment they managed to mobilize to record the fight, since we're still uncovering more of it as we go through their many, many data files. Only one of those pieces of equipment matters, though."

"And what piece might that be?" Prowl asked, glancing at Optimus.

"It was one that Sector Seven created themselves. It scans and records the paths of a very specific type of energy." Agent Bradburn glanced at Optimus for a second before continuing, seeming a bit unsure now. "They called it the Allspark Radiation Detector and Tracker, or ARDAT. It was used to track Cybertronians here on Earth, but was still unreliable. They were trying to work out the kinks, since it would work on some Cybertronians and not others, or only work when a specific Cybertronian was in vehicle or mechanoid form, or sometimes seemingly at random. There was only one time it worked perfectly."

"Mission City?" Prowl guessed, and Bradburn nodded.

"It was able to pick up, record, and track a very strong signal heading away from the battle. It was almost dismissed as a fluke or malfunction, as the signal apparently passed right through the earth," the Agent said. "Then someone with a little too much time on their hands, or a little too much brainpower, decided to arrange all the sensory logs chronologically, next to the major events of the battle. They discovered that they first picked up the signal only a few milliseconds after Megatron killed Jazz."

"The machine was tracking his Spark, Prowl," Optimus said sombrely. "It went in a straight line, from his body, through the Earth, to Ariel. Once they discovered it had stopped there, they used the machine to scan the entire area, eventually picking up the weak readings of Jazz's Spark in Ariel."

"Why didn't they pick up my Spark, then?" Prowl asked with a frown.

"As I mentioned, it was unreliable, and tended to work on a whim. Normally Jazz's...Spark...couldn't be detected, in any of his forms. I'm guessing it was the same for you in vehicle mode, since you chose one identical to Jazz's," Bradburn said with a shrug.

"I suppose that makes sense," Prowl said. "But that still leaves the question...why Ariel? Why did he go straight to her?"

"That I'm not sure about - we've done some checking into her background, and neither she, nor anyone in her family history as far back as we can check, has had anything to do with the Allspark or Sector Seven," Bradburn said with a shrug. "We're one step closer, though."

"Any step closer to understanding this situation is good, Agent Bradburn. Thank you for alerting us to this new information so quickly," Optimus said.

"It's the least I could do. You have more at stake in this situation than we do, after all," Bradburn said with a nod. He and Optimus exchanged a few more pleasantries before the Agent left, leaving Prowl and Optimus alone.

"How was your walk?" Optimus asked after a moment, and Prowl gave his leader a half-amused look.

"How do you think it was?" he asked in reply, and Optimus nodded in acceptance - he knew it wasn't any of his business, but he'd offered to listen anyways.

"If you feel up to it, I'd like you to speak with Jazz and Ariel. See if they can come up with anything that might explain why Jazz's Spark went straight to Ariel," Optimus said. "I'd ask Ratchet, but we need their minds as focused as possible to answer."

"If I may, Prime, it's been a long day for all of us. I'm sure they could use some rest," Prowl said.

"Perhaps, but we don't have much time before getting any sort of coherent answer from them will be impossible," Optimus said, but gave Prowl a searching look. "Still, perhaps you are right. It can wait until tomorrow."

"Thank you, Optimus," Prowl said, inclining his head slightly, and Optimus nodded.

"Just make sure you get in some recharge as well, Prowl," the Autobot leader said, and with another nod, Prowl turned and left.

The Autobot tactician considered returning to the med bay, to be a calming presence if nothing else, but he found himself curiously drained. Between the initial revelation of Jazz and Ariel's unavoidable fate, and his rather emotional walk with the pair, Prowl had run through a whole spectrum of emotions that he wasn't used to feeling that intensely. And even though his energy levels were well within acceptable limits, he felt more tired than if he'd spent three days fighting Decepticons. So he decided to follow Optimus' suggestion and headed to his hastily-assigned quarters for some recharge. A few bots passed him on the way, but they seemed to sense that he didn't want to talk, and didn't stop him.

Inside the spartan quarters, Prowl made his way quickly to his berth and lay down, not even bothering to take in the room - he probably wouldn't be staying, once Jazz and Ariel were lost completely. It would be too painful. So instead, he rolled over so he was facing the wall, and fell into recharge.

\---  
 _  
"So what're ya doin' tonight?" Jazz asked, peeking over the edge of Prowl's data pad._

_"Reading reports," Prowl replied without looking up. He may have only been at Autobot Headquarters for three joors, but he'd already learned that giving Jazz your attention just meant that you were guaranteed not to finish whatever you were doing._

_"You're off duty in a few breems, though," Jazz pointed out._

_"And there are a lot of reports I need to read," Prowl said irritably. "If I am to be an effective chief tactician for the entire Autobot army, I need to know how the Decepticons are fighting."_

_"Yeah, an' you're not gonna learn that if you send yourself into recharge reading boring reports," Jazz replied with a grin._

_"I do not find them boring," Prowl said, giving the mech an irritated look._

_"Yeah, well, I do," Jazz said, pulling the pad out of Prowl's hands. He gave it a cursory glance and snorted. "Prowler, I admire your lying skills. I don't think I would've been able to say with a straight face that one'a Percy's scientific reports wasn't boring. What's this have to do with tactics, anyways?"_

_"If you'll note, it's on aerodynamics and their affect on flying Cybertronians. And I wasn't lying. I do not find it boring. Now please, return it," Prowl said, holding out a hand. Jazz watched him for a moment, considering._

_"Only if you agree to have your morning energon with me tomorrow," the head of the Autobot special ops said with a slow grin. Prowl, having been warned about that grin by a helpful Ironhide, weighed his options. He had a multitude of other reports he could read, but from what he'd heard, Jazz could spend the entire evening in his office, letting him get two paragraphs into a report before snatching it away and repeating his ultimatum, and consider it entertaining. And having his morning energon with the saboteur wasn't exactly the end of the world, despite Ironhide's warning about that particular grin coming from the saboteur._

_"Very well," Prowl said with a nod, and with a wide grin, Jazz handed back the pad._

_"See ya tomorrow!" he said, and slipped out of the office. After a moment, he poked his head back in and added, "Did I mention I have the early morning shift?"_

_"I will see you then, Jazz," Prowl said irritably, now seeing Jazz's reasoning. The saboteur hoped that by getting Prowl promise to be up in time for the early shift, he wouldn't spend all night reading reports. Unfortunately for Jazz, Prowl could survive on very little recharge if need be, and it would only be for one night._

_\---_

_Prowl shifted in his chair restlessly again, and finally threw down the data pad with an aggravated sound. He'd been trying to concentrate all night, blissfully aware that Jazz had somewhere to be and, for the first time in several orns, wouldn't be bothering him, but it wasn't happening. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't focus, and trying was only getting him more and more irritable. So he might as well take a break and go for a walk around the base, see how things were going, before heading off to recharge._

_Prowl left his office without a backwards glance, carefully locking it before heading off. The various mechs on duty were surprised to see him, but ready enough with basic status reports, and yet Prowl found his mood worsening as he went. Finally, he decided that instead of subjecting anymore mechs to his bad mood, he might as well get some evening energon and then recharge. It was a short walk to the dispensary, and as Prowl headed from there to his quarters, cradling his warm energon with both hands, he passed the recreation room. He paused at the door, hearing the sounds of laughter inside, along with the familiar lines of a well-known Cybertronian 'horror' movie, a classic made just when Cybertronians had first begun exploring pre-recorded entertainment like that. It was old enough to be in 2D, Prowl remembered, and was rather...unbelievable at points. And yet it did have a few scary parts, one of which was coming up fairly soon._

_Even as the next thought crossed his processor, Prowl froze, wondering where it had come from. As if on purpose, Jazz's voice rose over the others in the room, and Prowl smiled faintly. It seemed the saboteur was influencing him more than he'd thought. With a low chuckle, Prowl headed off again, and it took him a few turns to realize that he was heading to the security office instead of his quarters. He paused in surprise, then shook his head. Well, why not? He could consider it payback for all of Jazz's intrusions. And so with a small grin, he continued on his way to give the current security officer a break from duty._

_\---_

_Looking over the wreckage of what had once been Polyhex, towards the hastily-erected med bay, Prowl grimaced as he spotted the Autobots helping with relief efforts. The brutal efficiency with which the Decepticons had attacked the city had left very few buildings standing - and even fewer inhabitants still living. In fact, as far as Prowl knew, the youngling he now held in his arms was the only survivor of the attack...and while the Autobot's helping to dig through the wreckage could certainly use the morale boost of seeing a survivor, Prowl doubted the youngling would like suddenly being presented with strangers after what he'd just lived through. So instead, he opened a private comm. channel to the mech he knew that knew how to be subtle._

__::Prowl to Jazz.::

::Jazz here. What's up, Prowler?:: _Jazz sounded weary, even over the comm. channel._

::I found a survivor. But I don't think he'll want much attention. Could you please clear the Autobots between me and the med bay, as well as warn Ratchet to be ready for a...very _small_ patient?:: _Prowl asked. The response was instant._

::Course,:: _Jazz said, then after a pause,_ ::Wait, _small?_ As in, youngling?::

::Yes,:: _Prowl said softly. There was a low curse from Jazz, then silence, and Prowl knew the other mech was setting about doing as Prowl had asked. It took almost a breem, and while he waited, Prowl talked quietly to the youngling he was holding, though the tactician wasn't sure if he were listening. The youngling was a similar model to Prowl - so much so that the tactician had thought he was looking at a younger version of himself at first - but in this case, it was bad, as the youngling's door wings had been severely damaged. One had been crushed by a piece of metal, the other seared by Decepticon fire. The pain had to be intense, and the youngling hadn't made a sound since he'd launched himself into Prowl's arms once he'd determined the tactician was friendly and safe._

_Finally, Jazz appeared in front of Prowl, and the youngling proved he was aware of his surroundings, as he tried to struggle out of Prowl's arms._

_"Easy, easy! It's just Jazz! He's a friend! He's not going to hurt you," Prowl said, desperately trying to keep his grip on the youngling - the last thing he needed was a fall from any height. Jazz obligingly backed up until the youngling stopped struggling, and then, once the small Cybertronian was watching him warily over the edge of Prowl's arm, he slowly approached, hands hanging limply at his sides, his friendly 'you can trust me' smile in place...and keeping his Autobot symbol in view at all times._

_"See? He's harmless," Prowl said to the youngling._

_"Except to Decepticons," Jazz said dryly._

_"Jazz," Prowl hissed, but the youngling didn't seem to mind, curling up in Prowl's arms again and giving the impression of not paying attention once more. Jazz gave Prowl a curious look, and Prowl shrugged slightly before continuing towards the med bay, trusting Jazz to have done as asked. Considering the youngling's reaction to the saboteur, while he walked, Prowl spoke softly about Ratchet. He described the medic's appearance, his attitude, his loyalty, and described his skill. Jazz remained a silent presence the entire way, right up until they approached the main med bay._

_"This way," Jazz said softly, touching Prowl's arm and pointing off to the side, where a smaller structure had been set up. Prowl nodded and changed course, understanding - corpses of the dead were all that occupied Ratchet's med bay today, and the youngling didn't need to see any more of those._

_Inside the smaller, temporary med bay, Ratchet was just finishing setting up, and looked up when Prowl entered. The tactician came to a stop by the only berth in the room, and the youngling in his arms stirred again. This time he didn't try to crawl out of Prowl's arms, but refused to be set down, clinging to Prowl's arm with sudden strength._

_"It's alright. This is Ratchet, the medic I told you about. He's going to fix you up," Prowl said softly. The youngling looked uncertainly up at Prowl, and he nodded, then carefully tried setting the youngling down on the berth again. This time he allowed Prowl to do so. Ratchet approached slowly, and began speaking softly, explaining that he needed to run a scan, and then fix the youngling's door wings. The medic patiently went through every tool he'd be using, explaining every step in simple terms. Prowl, seeing the youngling relaxing, took a step away, intending to leave him in Ratchet's excellent care. As soon as he moved away, however, the youngling's attention was focused on Prowl, and he tensed as if preparing to launch himself at the tactician again and latch on.._

_"I have duties to see to," Prowl said softly, stepping back to the berth and placing a gentle hand on the youngling's back. "Ratchet can take care of you for now. I'll be back later." The youngling seemed to consider that, glancing between Prowl and Ratchet, then held out his arms, and Prowl grimaced slightly, thinking he'd have to stay the entire time. But the youngling simply gave him a hug, then just before he let go, whispered in Prowl's audio, "Bluestreak." Prowl gave the youngling a curious look as he drew back, but his attention was focused on Ratchet now. Prowl frowned slightly, then shook his head and carefully left, Jazz following._

_"So I count as a friend of yours now, do I?" Jazz asked dryly once they were outside and well out of earshot. "I thought your psych profile said you never made friends."_

_"I don't. Sometimes they make me, however," Prowl said irritably._

_\---_

_It was a chilly night, both inside and outside. An entire squad of Autobots, one of the few combiner teams still alive and functioning, had defected, and everyone was blaming everyone else. Only the command staff knew that it had been expected for some time, and that they'd been feeding the mechs involved disinformation for when they inevitably did. And their security codes had been needing validation from senior officers for half a vorn. Still, it was a blow to morale, and everyone was upset._

_Prowl, not wanting to deal with all the finger-pointing, had come out into the more manageable cold. It wasn't enough to harm him, and the sky was clear, allowing him to practice some of his rusty astronomy skills. It wasn't really a surprise to him when Jazz intruded on his solitude - the saboteur always came looking for him when he went off alone somewhere for too long. Unusual tonight was Jazz's silence as he lay down on the roof next to Prowl, and the tactician couldn't help but give him a curious look. Jazz quirked a small smile at him and looked up at the sky, but there was something troubled in his expression._

_"Something wrong, Jazz?" Prowl asked after a moment._

_"Nah," Jazz replied, then after a pause, "It's odd, but for some reason, most'a them are blamin' me for not seein' it."_

_"You did, though," Prowl said._

_"Yeah, I just can't tell 'em," Jazz said, sighing. "I'm just...used to being liked, I guess."_

_"Used to being popular, you mean," Prowl said with a small smile._

_"However y'wanna put it," Jazz said, not even laughing, and Prowl knew that this was, for once, really bothering the other mech. "You know me, Prowler. I'm good at reading people because I can tell their moods at a glance. An' it just ain't relaxin' or in any way nice t'look at my friends an' know that they're all blamin' me, without them even havin' t'say anythin'."_

_"I'm not blaming you," Prowl said._

_"I know y'ain't," Jazz said softly. Silence fell, and it was several breems before Jazz spoke again. "It's cold out here," he murmured, half to himself, and then Prowl jerked slightly in surprise as the saboteur suddenly snuggled up against his side. He looked down, and Jazz smiled wryly up at him. "I'm bein' a leech tonight. Leechin' off your calm, unaccusin' mood an' your heat."_

_"I don't mind," Prowl said, smiling faintly in response, then looked back up at the sky._

_"Whatcha lookin' at up there, anyways?" Jazz asked._

_"The stars," Prowl replied dryly, and a clawed hand whacked into his chest._

_"Smart-aft," Jazz said with light-hearted accusation when Prowl looked down at him. The saboteur was grinning slightly now, and it Prowl was glad that Jazz's mood had lifted. The world was not right if Jazz was not happy._

_Jazz looked at Prowl curiously as the tactician frowned slightly, vague confusion evident on his face as he mulled over his last few thoughts. They were entirely true - he was not happy unless Jazz was happy, and when Jazz was unhappy, he would do anything to help cheer him up, including things normally outside his character. It was an entirely new feeling for Prowl, and he probed it carefully, this desire to see Jazz happy, trying to figure out where it came from. It didn't take him long to realize, and he froze, perceptibly stilling and staring at the now-frowning Jazz in shock._

_He was_ in love _with Jazz._

_"Prowler? What's wrong?" Jazz's voice broke Prowl out of his shock, and he quickly turned to look up at the stars again. "Prowler?" the saboteur sounded confused now, and Prowl's processor spun out gibberish as it tried to come up with a suitable response as well as deal with this startling revelation. It wasn't having much luck with either, and Jazz was growing more concerned by the moment. Finally the saboteur hauled himself up so he was hovering over Prowl, and the tactician became uncomfortably aware of how much of Jazz's body had to be draped over him for the saboteur to be in that position._

_"Nothing's wrong," Prowl finally said, entirely unconvincingly, and Jazz just gave him a look. Prowl looked off to the side, subtly trying to shift away from the other mech._

_"You were fine a minute ago. Was it somethin' I said?" Jazz asked, concerned, and Prowl glanced back at him._

_"You've barely said anything. How could I have a problem with what you_ have _said?" Prowl asked._

_"Well it's either me or the stars, an' I don't think the stars can get ya this flustered," Jazz replied._

_"Or it could be a private communiqué, or something I just remembered," Prowl replied logically._

_"And is it?" Jazz asked._

_"...no," Prowl replied._

_"Exactly. So it must be me," Jazz said with a small frown. "So what'd I do or say?"_

_"Nothing," Prowl said uncomfortably, Jazz let out an exasperated noise and flopped over onto his back next to Prowl, using one of the tactician's arms as a headrest. Prowl relaxed as the warmth of the saboteur's body left his, and slowly, entirely unconsciously, Prowl released some of the excess heated air he'd had cycling through his systems while Jazz was hovering over him. The two of them lay in silence for another breem, Prowl no longer staring at the stars, but examining this wondrous revelation. He didn't know what Jazz was thinking - wouldn't have noticed if the saboteur had talked - only paying attention when Jazz suddenly stood._

_"I'm gonna get some recharge in," he said, and headed for the exit off the roof._

_"Wait," Prowl said, clambering to his feet, and Jazz paused to look back curiously. "I'll walk with you. It's time I got some recharge in, as well, and our quarters and close to each other." Jazz got an odd look on his face, but nodded, and waited for Prowl to catch up before continuing. They walked in silence, only nodding greetings to the few mechs they passed. Jazz's quarters were closest, so they stopped there first, and said brief 'goodnight's to each other. Prowl was walking away when he felt Jazz hand on his shoulder, and when he turned around, the saboteur was suddenly pressed close to him. Their lip components met briefly, crackling with electricity and sending smalls shocks through Prowl's systems._

_Prowl remained frozen in place, trying to comprehend what had just happened, when Jazz pulled away. Ever so slowly, he moved his head to look down at the saboteur in surprise, and Jazz suddenly smirked._

_"Thought so," he said, then grabbed the front of Prowl's armour, and before the tactician knew it, he'd been hauled into Jazz's quarters._

_\---_

_Prowl approached his and Jazz's quarters slowly, not sure what to expect inside. Jazz knew he'd helped Prime with the team assignments, but the saboteur also knew his duty. He was also blocking their bond, if only gently. Prowl could have pushed through if he wanted, but feeling guilty about the separate assignments he had told Prime would 'not be a problem', he didn't. At the door, he hesitated before entering the code to open it, and found Jazz waiting for him, his expression sad. Understanding flowed through the suddenly open bond - and yes, there was anger, but it was small. There was no happiness, though._

_"No smile?" Prowl asked softly._

_"I don't think I can right now," Jazz said, and sorrow coursed through the bond._

_"Of course you can. It's in your programming to always be able to smile. You said so yourself," Prowl replied, stepping into the room and allowing the door to close behind him._

_"I guess I lied," Jazz said miserably. Prowl considered making another attempt to cheer Jazz up, but as he felt the underlying fear in his mate's spark, he knew this was one of the few times Jazz needed reassurance, not jokes. So Prowl stepped forward, cupping Jazz's face in one hand and making sure the saboteur was looking at him before speaking._

_"We will see each other again," he said solemnly, pouring his surety of that fact into his words, and through the bond._

_"Yeah, but after how long?" Jazz said sourly, obviously not believing him, and Prowl pulled his mate into hug, holding him close._

_"I don't know," he said softly. "But I know that we will." Jazz gripped him tightly, opening the bond all the way, and Prowl almost felt himself drown in Jazz's terror - the saboteur was terrified of being left alone. He'd told Prowl a long time ago that he'd always been afraid of being left alone - that's why he sought out the company of others, why he was such a personable mech. He didn't like being alone, and so surrounded himself with people. But it had never quite seemed like enough until he found Prowl, and now they were going to be separated again._

_"Make love to me," Jazz said so quietly it could barely be heard. "Make me forgot we'll be separated soon." Prowl wasn't about to deny his mate._

_\---_

_Prowl looked around himself, and saw the world he'd left behind - desolate, barren, drained of energy and destroyed by war. This was the Cybertron he and the other Autobots and Decepticons hadn't seen in several millions years. This was what they'd known would happen without the Allspark. But he'd only ever seen it in simulations, so how could he be here now?_

_"It's kinda pretty in its own way, isn't it?" the voice from behind startled Prowl, and he whirled, only to find Jazz leaning against a piece of rubble. The saboteur was emitting the only light on the entire planet, his entire form crackling with light blue energy, jumping off occasionally to land on a part of the surrounding landscape. Wherever the electricity struck, that part of Cybertron would flare to life for one brief moment before dying once more._

_"Not really," Prowl replied after a moment, looking around. "Destruction is never pretty."_

_"Heh. Guess that's why you're in tactics an' I was a saboteur. Y'gotta have a certain likin' for seein' destruction to be a saboteur. Y'cause enough of it yourself," Jazz said with a chuckle. Prowl frowned._

_"'Was'?" he asked._

_"Far as I know, nothin' needs destroyin' in th'Matrix," Jazz said with a grin. "Well, that's my guess. Haven't gotten there yet...have to see about it when I do. Who knows, maybe it'll be another Cybertron, only this one more peaceful. Maybe I'll get to do some performin' like everyone always told me I should."_

_"You'll have to wait awhile to find out," Prowl said._

_"Nope," Jazz said, then suddenly straightened. "Whoop, here I go. Time's up." The saboteur flashed Prowl a brilliant grin. "Try and live a little without me, hey? And remember - not everyone's gonna waltz up to ya and make ya their friend." Prowl opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, Jazz's form dissolved into a ball of brilliant energy and took off. It passed through Prowl, leaving him with a sudden flash of intense emotion, Jazz's third and final goodbye, and then was gone. Prowl gasped, turning to follow its path..._

...and started upright on his berth, hearing the incessant buzzing off his commlink, telling him someone was trying to contact him. For a moment, he couldn't focus on where he was, when he was, but he managed to reorient himself after a few moments, and answered his commlink.

 _::Prowl here,::_ he said wearily.

 _::Prowl, it's Ratchet. You'd better come down to the med bay. Ariel has something to tell you,::_ Ratchet said, his voice warning and consoling at the same time, and things suddenly slid into place.

 _::Jazz is gone. I know,::_ Prowl said softly.


	19. Epilogue

"Are you ready, Ariel?" The voice came softly through the car speakers, but the human in the driver's seat still jumped in surprise. She'd been staring at the driveway, the car parked on the side of the road, for the past fifteen minutes.

"I...I suppose so," she said, her voice wavering. The car's engine started quietly, and it pulled out onto the road before turning into the driveway. Just as the house came into view, Ariel squeezed her eyes shut, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "Can I change my mind?" she asked.

"You'll have to face them sooner or later," Prowl replied through the speakers.

"I'd rather not. Can't I just stay with the Autobots?" Ariel asked, slowly opening her eyes as Prowl came to a stop.

"You actually _want_ to live in the same state as the twins?" Prowl asked with dry humour, and Ariel giggled slightly.

"So is that why you agreed to be my guardian? To get away from them?" she asked.

"Of course not. I was simply concerned that Seven Hands will not believe the intelligence the government will feed them about you no longer having Jazz inside you, and attempt to kidnap you again," Prowl replied easily, and Ariel giggled again, only to stop abruptly as the door to the house opened slowly.

There was a perceptible pause, and then the door was flung open, and Sebastian came to stand on the porch, staring at the car, and Ariel in the driver's seat, with wide eyes. Ariel managed to pry one hand away from the steering wheel to wave weakly. Her brother, looking stunned, waved back, and then suddenly darted back inside. Gabriel emerged in his place a few moments later, looking surprised, but not as shocked, and made for the car, instead of just standing on the porch. Ariel's attention was drawn away from her approaching brother when the door clicked open beside her, and her seatbelt undid itself and withdrew.

"You'll be fine. They are your family, after all," Prowl said softly.

"Yeah," Ariel said, taking a deep breath, and then stepped out of the car, only to be enveloped in a hug by Gabriel. Over his shoulder, she could see Sebastian coming out with her parents, and before she knew it, she was at the center of her family, welcoming her home.

\---

Optimus stood at the recently installed tactical display, staring thoughtfully at the path plotted through the 3D rendering of space. He started slightly when Ironhide stepped up beside him, and then reached down and hit the 'off' button for the display, clearing the parameters before doing so.

"Huh. Blind luck, then?" Ironhide asked.

"Apparently she just happened to be the only sentient creature between Jazz's body and Vector Sigma. Jazz took advantage," Optimus said with wry amusement.

"Stubborn glitch," Ironhide said with a shake of his head. "Only mech I can think of that would make a side-trip on his way to the entrance to the Matrix just to say good-bye."

"Ratchet," Optimus commented.

"Nah, he'd come back and haunt you afterwards. Either that or possess you," Ironhide said with a snort. Optimus considered.

"Chromia," he offered instead.

"I believe I specified 'mech'," Ironhide replied dryly.

"Ah. Right. You did. My mistake," Optimus said with equal dryness.


End file.
